junk email

Question

junk email

Gerry Hayes 0

Within the last week junk email are showing up in my inbox. I use all the safe sender and junk rules correctly. It just started. Is there a system issue?

Bulldog 2,300 Reputation points

2026-02-15T19:26:15.24+00:00

Not a system issue. There is nothing in your system that causes junk mail to appear.
Rob Koch 25,885 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-02-15T21:02:48.5466667+00:00

If you aren't aware that you've provided your address to any new businesses the last couple weeks, then think about whether you've made anyone who knows your email address angry, since that's another common way that people end up being added to lots of less reputable email services in a short period.

It could also be an infostealer malware that got on your system, but typically those attacks start with account theft attempts and other direct attacks before moving on to simple spamming of your address.

Rob
Hornblower409 9,670 Reputation points

2026-02-16T07:13:49.7266667+00:00

@Gerry Hayes said

-- junk rules correctly

1 -- Are you actually creating Outlook Rules? Or do you mean you are right-clicking on the email and doing Report -> Report Junk (the recommended method)

2 -- Are all, or most, from a single domain (the part of the email address after the "@")? e.g. onmicrosoft.com?
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5592512/inundated-with-onmicrosoft-com-spam-emails

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Bulldog 2,300 Reputation points

2026-02-15T19:26:15.24+00:00

Not a system issue. There is nothing in your system that causes junk mail to appear.
Rob Koch 25,885 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2026-02-15T21:02:48.5466667+00:00

If you aren't aware that you've provided your address to any new businesses the last couple weeks, then think about whether you've made anyone who knows your email address angry, since that's another common way that people end up being added to lots of less reputable email services in a short period.

It could also be an infostealer malware that got on your system, but typically those attacks start with account theft attempts and other direct attacks before moving on to simple spamming of your address.

Rob
Hornblower409 9,670 Reputation points

2026-02-16T07:13:49.7266667+00:00

@Gerry Hayes said

-- junk rules correctly

1 -- Are you actually creating Outlook Rules? Or do you mean you are right-clicking on the email and doing Report -> Report Junk (the recommended method)

2 -- Are all, or most, from a single domain (the part of the email address after the "@")? e.g. onmicrosoft.com?
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5592512/inundated-with-onmicrosoft-com-spam-emails

Answer 1

If junk emails are appearing in your inbox despite having configured your Safe Senders and Junk rules correctly, it could be due to a few reasons:

Junk Email Filter Settings: Ensure that your Outlook Junk Email Filter is set to an appropriate level (Low, High, or No automatic filtering). If it's set to "No automatic filtering," Outlook won't classify messages as spam, but it will still use the safelist collection to manage emails.
Safe Senders and Blocked Senders Lists: Verify that the email addresses of the junk emails are not inadvertently added to your Safe Senders list or that legitimate senders are not in your Blocked Senders list.
System Limitations: Microsoft Exchange has a limit on the space allocated to your Junk Email lists (default is 510 KB). If this limit is exceeded, it may affect the filtering process. You can check if you have a large number of entries in your Safe Senders, Blocked Senders, and Safe Recipients lists.
Updates or Changes: Sometimes, updates to Outlook or changes in your email settings can inadvertently affect how junk emails are filtered.

If the issue persists, you may want to check for any updates to Outlook or consider reaching out to your IT support for further assistance.

References:

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