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Diona Davis 0

I have outlook for my personal email. I have always had it set to where email went to junk folder unless you were on my safe senders list. Has worked for years with no issues. About 2 or 3 weeks ago I started getting spam in my inbox. I have checked the safe senders list and the email is not listed in there so it should go to junk. Any reason why this started happening.

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Answer 1

Winnie-B 7,765 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi Diona Davis

I understand how frustrating this is, especially when your Junk filtering had been working normally for a long time.

Have you already tried the Q&A Assist suggestions? In addition, could you confirm:

Are you currently using the “Strict” / “Only safe senders” type setting, or the default/standard filtering?

In the meantime, here are a few alternative checks:

1, Check Inbox rules (very important)

Go to “Settings” > “Mail” > “Rules”
Make sure there’s no rule accidentally moving or allowing certain emails into Inbox

2, Verify contacts list

Sometimes senders added to Contacts may be treated as trusted
Check if those spam addresses were accidentally saved

For references, you can also see: Add recipients to the Safe Senders List in Outlook

Please feel free to let me know how it goes. Thank you so much for your time and understanding.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Diona Davis 0 Reputation points

2026-04-22T12:19:46.34+00:00

I had already tried all the things that the AI had suggested. My email is always set to strict. I did go through and check to make sure that they are not in contacts or safe senders. The emails that are getting through are all in the same email format.

Final Attempt<[Moderator note: Removed PII]@dynamoit.com.ar> on behalf of Costco Support<[Moderator note: Removed PII]>

The first email changes and the behalf of changes slightly but it's always the same format. These address are not found anywhere in contacts or safe senders so they should go to junk but they are not.
Winnie-B 7,765 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-23T06:41:40.31+00:00
Hello Diona Davis

The example you shared explains the bypass: spammers are using "on behalf of" headers and Punycode (those circled special characters) to mimic legitimate brands like Walmart while hiding behind randomized domains.

Please try these refined steps to stop them:

1, Refresh the "Strict" Filter

Go to Settings > Mail > Junk email. Scroll to the bottom and ensure "Only trust email from addresses in my Safe senders..." is checked.

Tip: If it’s already on, uncheck it, save, then re-check and save again to "reset" the rule on the server.

2, Create a keyword rule

Since these emails use consistent headers, a rule can catch what the filter misses.

Go to Settings > Mail > Rules > Add new rule.

Condition: "Message header includes"

Value: Enter on behalf of or the specific domain dynamoit.com.ar.

Action: "Move to" > Junk Email or Delete.

3, Block the domain

If you don't expect legitimate mail from Argentina, block the sender's specific domain.

Go to Settings > Mail > Junk email > Blocked senders and domains.

Add dynamoit.com.ar to the list.
Diona Davis 0 Reputation points

2026-04-23T12:52:31.12+00:00

Thanks for your reply. I had already refreshed the strict filter when AI suggested it but fyi there is not an option that reads Only trust address in my safe list. There is one to block attachments from anyone not in my safe list or trust email from my contacts. I have both checked. I created the rule and added dynamoit.com.ar to the blocked domain. The thing that I don't understand is why I am having to block them if the strict setting is supposed to block anything from emails not in my safe list and these aren't. Works for everything else (currently sent emails from Microsoft to junk) but for some reason these are getting through.

I will let you know if this works. Thank you again.
Diona Davis 0 Reputation points

2026-04-23T19:13:01.8233333+00:00

So received a couple of emails today from those same type of accounts and it seems those are not going to junk. I still wonder why if my email was set to strict all the time that those (and only those) starting coming through as they were not supposed to since they were not in my contacts.

Thanks for your help.
Winnie-B 7,765 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-04-26T07:35:17.48+00:00
Hi Diona Davis

Thank you for the detailed follow‑up.

In Outlook.com, the junk filtering system is not controlled only by your visible settings. It also relies on Microsoft’s backend filtering (SmartScreen), which evaluates sender reputation, behavior, and user feedback.

Even with stricter settings:

The Safe Senders list only guarantees allowed senders go to Inbox,

but it does not guarantee all other emails are always blocked or sent to Junk

So, if a sender (or domain) has a temporarily “trusted” or neutral reputation, Outlook may still deliver it to Inbox despite your settings.

Since you already tried the standard steps, please double‑check these specific areas:

1, Check if those emails appear in your Contacts

Go to People (Contacts)

Search for those sender addresses/domains. If present, Outlook may treat them as trusted

2, Confirm no “Allow” rule exists

Settings > Mail > Rules

Look for any rule that: moves mail to Inbox or bypasses filtering

3, Check if the sender uses varying addresses

Same domain but different sender formats (e.g. random prefixes)

In that case, blocking the entire domain (as you started doing) is the correct approach

4, Use “Report as Junk” on those messages

Outlook’s filtering adapts based on user actions over time

Answer 2

Outlook.com’s junk filtering is automatic and can change over time, so behavior can shift even if no settings were changed. However, there are a few concrete things to check and a known workaround that has recently helped others when junk mail suddenly started going to the Inbox.

Confirm the junk setting that sends all unknown mail to Junk
- In Outlook.com, go to Settings → Mail → Junk email.
- Make sure the option equivalent to “Treat all email as junk unless it comes from someone in my Safe Senders or Safe Recipients lists, or from senders in my organization” is still enabled. This setting forces anything not on your safe lists into Junk.
- If it was off, turn it back on and Save.
Verify the sender is not accidentally allowed
- Open your Safe senders and domains and Safe mailing lists pages and confirm the spam domains/addresses are not listed there.
- Also check Safe Recipients List if using Outlook Web App light, and remove any unwanted entries. Changes to Safe Senders, Blocked Senders, and Safe Recipients are saved automatically as soon as they are entered.
Add problem senders/domains to Blocked senders
- In Outlook.com, open Junk email settings.
- Under Blocked senders and domains, add the spam address or domain. Messages from blocked senders go directly to the Junk folder.
Use “It’s not junk” / “Junk” actions to retrain
- When legitimate mail goes to Junk, open the Junk Email folder, select the message, and choose It’s not junk. This also helps improve the service.
- When spam lands in the Inbox, mark it as junk so Outlook.com can adjust its filtering.
Reset the junk filter behavior (workaround that has fixed similar cases) A recent Outlook.com case where spam (with high SCL scores) suddenly started going to the Inbox was resolved by effectively “resetting” the junk handling setting:
1. In Outlook.com, go to Settings → Mail → Junk email and set Incoming mail handling (or equivalent junk handling option) to the strictest setting.
2. Save changes and sign out of Outlook.com.
3. Sign back in, return to Settings → Mail → Junk email, and set Incoming mail handling back to the normal/standard setting.
4. Save changes again. It can take a few hours before the change fully takes effect; after that, junk mail should again be routed correctly to the Junk folder.

If, after these steps and some hours of observation, spam still consistently bypasses Junk despite not being on any safe lists, contact Outlook.com support from the Help menu so they can review the account’s filtering on the service side.

References:

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