Spam out of control

Question

The amount of spam and phishing emails I am getting is out of control. I am blocking and deleting 20-30 a day. The rules I've created don't work either, they're completely pointless. I have a gmail account which never has this problem. All the Miscrosoft suggested 'fixes' are a version of "fix it yourself, nothing we can do". Is there anything I can do to stop this, or is it time to give up on Outlook?

Answer 1

Hi,

This troubleshooting doesn’t completely fix the issue, but it does help reduce the amount of spam or phishing emails that reach your inbox.

You can report the spam, but sometimes it just brings in more spam depending on what the sender is using. Blocking addresses or domains does not help much because spammers do not reuse the same address and there is also a limit on how many you can block. If the emails are already going to the junk folder, no need to add them to the blocked list.

If the spam messages keep using the same words, you can make a rule that looks for those keywords and deletes them. One rule can have many phrases. If the spam words are in the sender name, check the message header and look for those words there.

Here is the Microsoft article about creating rules,

https://support.microsoft.com/office/inbox-rules-in-outlook-web-app-edea3d17-00c9-434b-b9b7-26ee8d9f5622

Honestly, I usually just delete the spam. If the same sender messages me more than once, I mark it as spam, but most of the time delete is still faster.

I hope this helps!

Answer 2

To manage the spam and phishing emails in Outlook, there are several steps you can take to improve your situation:

1. Check and Adjust Spam Filters: Ensure that your spam filters are set to a level that effectively blocks unwanted emails. You can configure the anti-spam policies in Outlook to better suit your needs.
2. Use Mail Flow Rules: Although you mentioned that your current rules are not effective, consider revisiting them. You can create specific rules to filter out emails based on certain criteria, such as keywords in the subject line or sender's address. Make sure to test these rules to see if they work as intended.
3. Report Spam and Phishing: Regularly report spam and phishing emails to Microsoft. This helps improve their filtering systems and can reduce the amount of spam you receive over time.
4. Review Safe Senders and Blocked Senders Lists: Make sure that your Safe Senders and Blocked Senders lists are updated. Sometimes, legitimate emails may end up in the spam folder, while spam can bypass filters if not properly blocked.
5. Consider Third-Party Solutions: If Outlook's built-in features are not sufficient, you might explore third-party email protection services that can provide additional layers of filtering and security.
6. Stay Updated: Ensure that your Outlook application is up to date, as updates can include improvements to spam filtering and overall performance.

If these measures do not yield satisfactory results, you may want to consider alternative email services that better meet your needs, like Gmail, which you mentioned does not have this issue.

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References:

• Anti-spam protection in cloud organizations
• Frequently asked questions - Anti-spam protection