Inbox spam out of control

Question

Hi, over the last month, my spam is out of control. Can Microsoft increase its filtering on the server end so that they don't even come to my inbox? What's going on? This is absolutely ridiculous. I've had this email address for over 15 years and suddenly this is happening. I get 20 to 30 obvious spam emails per day.

Answer 1

Thank you for letting me know.

Since these are already going to Junk and you’re using strict filtering, this means Outlook is catching most of them, but the senders are constantly changing their tricks to get through. Unfortunately, that’s why rules and blocks don’t always work long-term.

A few things you can still try:

• In Junk Email settings, make sure Safe senders and domains only contains people you really trust. Too many entries there can weaken filtering: https://support.microsoft.com/office/add-recipients-to-the-safe-senders-list-in-outlook-be1baea0-beab-4a30-b968-9004332336ce
• Keep reporting these as Phishing (not just Junk) when possible. This helps Microsoft improve server-side filtering. "Phishing and suspicious behavior in Outlook" https://support.microsoft.com/office/phishing-and-suspicious-behavior-in-outlook-0d882ea5-eedc-4bed-aebc-079ffa1105a3
• Avoid opening or clicking anything in these messages, even in Junk.

About checking Junk for real emails, sadly, that’s still necessary when using strict filtering. There isn’t a perfect way to stop all spam without risking missed messages.

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Have you used this email address to sign up for any new services, websites, or downloads in the past few months? A spike like this often means the address was shared or leaked somewhere.

Answer 2

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

Are these spam emails showing up in your Inbox, or are they already going into Junk Email? That helps me figure out what’s happening on your end.

If they’re landing in your Inbox, here’s something you can do to start blocking them:

• At the top of your Outlook page, select Settings.
• Choose Mail > Junk email.
• Under Blocked senders and domains, select Add blocked sender.
• Enter the email address you want to block. If you want to block an entire domain (for example, everything from @spamdomain.com), you can enter the domain name instead.
• Select OK, then Save.

For more, please see "Filter junk email and spam in Outlook" https://support.microsoft.com/office/filter-junk-email-and-spam-in-outlook-db786e79-54e2-40cc-904f-d89d57b7f41d

Also, did this start suddenly today, or has it been happening for a while? A sudden wave like this can sometimes mean your email was exposed somewhere.

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Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.