email to spam

Question

changed password after a scammer hacked my email Now all my emails go to spam folder

Answer 1

Hello,

Make sure you do this on a computer, not on smartphone or tablet. Go to https://www.outlook.com and log in, click on the gear icon on the top right to launch the settings.

Then, on the Mail tab, go to Rules. Are there any rules set up here? If yes, delete them all.

Then check the conditional format, again, if it's there, delete it.

Then, check Forwarding and IMAP, If any items are present, delete them as well.

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If you can't find anything, go to https://account.live.com > Your info > Sign in Preferences. Make sure to check all the aliases here. If you don't recognize any there, delete it.

Then go to Security > Manage How I sign in, make sure all contact info is yours. Then scroll down on the same page, look under App Password, click on remove existing app passwords as well.

Please make sure you change your password and enable two-step verficiation.

Go to your account online, go to Devices, remove any devices you don't recognize.

Then go to Security, click on Sign out everywhere. This is meant to kill any session that's still connected. Unfortunately, this one will take 24 hours to take effect.

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In addition, this can be due to a malicious script running on your device. Are you using Windows device to check emails? Do you use any email app, such as Outlook Classic or New Outlook? Please go to the app, remove the account from settings.

Then, last but not least, also very important step: go here: https://learn.microsoft.com/defender-endpoint/safety-scanner-download

Download and run the 64 bit scanner, run a full scan. Tell me what the final results are.

Answer 2

Because the account was hacked, junk settings or rules were likely changed so that everything is treated as spam. In the new Outlook for Windows/Outlook on the web, adjust the junk settings and safe/blocked lists to fix this:

1. Review Junk Email settings
   1. At the top of Outlook, select Settings (gear icon).
   2. Select Mail > Junk email.
   3. Under Blocked senders and domains, remove any addresses or domains that should not be blocked.
   4. Under Safe senders and domains, add your own addresses and any trusted senders or domains so their messages are not moved to Junk.
   5. Select OK, then Save.
2. Check for malicious rules and forwarding
   1. Still under Mail settings, go to Rules and delete any suspicious rules that move messages to Junk/Deleted or create drafts.
   2. Go to Mail > Forwarding and remove any forwarding address that you do not recognize.
3. Train the spam filter
   1. When legitimate messages land in Junk Email, move them back to Inbox and mark them as Not junk (if available). This helps tune the filters so fewer good messages are treated as spam.
4. Strengthen account security
   1. Ensure the password is strong and unique and that multi-factor authentication is enabled for the account, as recommended in the guidance on leaked email addresses.
   2. Monitor for suspicious sign-ins and be extra cautious with links and attachments in future messages.

After cleaning up rules and junk settings and adding safe senders, new mail from trusted sources should start going to the Inbox instead of the spam/Junk Email folder.

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References:

• Filter junk email and spam in Outlook
• What to do if your email address is leaked
• Help protect your Outlook.com email account
• Hacker set up continuous draft ransomware email - Microsoft Q&A