Random Messages in My Drafts Folder

Question

This one has me a bit stumped...

Over the past week, there have been random emails showing up in my 'Drafts' folder that I did not create. All of the messages are the same. They have no subject, the body of the email is "Lorem. this is the body text", and there is a text file as an attachment. The attachment is titled "test.txt", it is 272 b and contains "this is the attachment text". As far as I can tell, these messages are never sent. They seem to be created at random times, and total about 20 in a given day. 

In Outlook, I have several accounts configured. These draft messages are present in both (all) of my Office 365 accounts, but not in my Google-based accounts. There are also messages with the same format at content in my 'Junk' folders. There are no from or to addresses on these message. 

Does anyone know how these messages might be created? I presume it is some kind of automated process since they are being created at random times day and night. Are there any forensic techniques that I might be able to use to figure out where the messages are coming from? 

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

I have (had) the same issue. I am a macOS user and I was using the Spark email client.  I removed my O365 account from all instances of Spark, then I removed the app. I am now using the Outlook for Mac client and the Outlook for iOS client on my mobile devices. I have not seen this issue occur in 7 days.  I don't know if Spark was the culprit or not, but for now the issue is not occuring.

Answer 2

I have been having the same issue for about a month, in several mailboxes in my O365 account.  I have deleted all mail apps from my iPhone, and deleted all mail apps from my Mac.  I opened OWA and about an hour later, another one of these drafts appeared.  Sometimes they appear in my inbox as well.

I spoke to Microsoft about this several weeks ago and they couldn't figure it out.

I did a Message Trace on my mailbox in O365 Security and Compliance and they do not show up.  I have also confirmed that no one else has accessed my mailbox.  I have done extensive scans of my laptop and there does not appear to be any viruses or malware.

This is a huge concern.  How can a draft be created if there is no mail client installed??

Answer 3

I tweeted Readdle about this and here's their answer. It's a known bug:

https://twitter.com/SparkMailApp/status/1223235081109721089?s=20

Answer 4

Hi DuRand

I have the same issue (exactly) and am using a similar if not identical set up to you.

Spark Mail > O365 (multiple accounts in 365 and Gmail). MacOS and IOS devices with Spark installed as primary client.

Can I just ask - did you suspect Spark as the culprit - I get you don't want to blame someone without evidence, but was your view it is more likely given that you have removed Spark and now are using Outlook Mac? How are things after the last few weeks - still the same (fixed) or did it start up again?

As you might expect when I found this post (as it been happening for some time now), I was really interested in any thoughts you have to help short circuit my process to get a solution.

Many thanks.

Graham

Answer 5

Hi Graham, 

Thanks for the nudge. I've been meaning to reply to this thread. 

I was using Spark on iOS and Android and removed the apps on both devices about two weeks ago. I am using Outlook on Mac and Windows and have not seen this issue since removing Spark. All clean. It is unfortunate that the culprit appears to be Spark - I think it is a great app. To give the developer an opportunity to improve, this should be reported as a bug. Or maybe it is not a bug and just an incorrect user setting. 

Hope this helps. 

-David