Legitimate emails to my account are being blocked with 5.7.520 AS(9530).

Question

For the last several months my Junk Mail folder in my Hotmail account has been suspiciously empty of messages. I was a little surprised but didn't think much of it. I only now realised that some arrogant technician decided to arbitrarily trash messages addressed to me, presuming that whatever they or their automated bots deem as spam can be deleted and not handed to me. This is an insult and outright invasion of my privacy.

Valid messages sent to me have been trashed and I was not even notified that this was happening. Some required my decisions to questions regarding finances, some required my review of medical records. Those are but a couple of examples. And I only found out that I had no chance of reacting to those requests "because the messages looked cryptic and spam" to some idiot.

Immediately,

Stop deleting any messages that are addressed to my account. Snooping through my correspondence is not the purpose of Microsoft. Sorting junk from the rest is the purpose of the Junk Mail folder, not the purpose of some undereducated "specialist" on a Microsoft censorship team.

Please deliver all messages, always, to my Inbox, with all perceived junk in my Junk Mail folder.

"Features" of this sort should be offered as opt-in extensions, not secretly slapped on with no option to even get out of the snooping and censorship.

Answer 1

I think you misunderstood the problem. Consequently, your response is rooted in your belief that Microsoft's sacred automation can not be wrong; and therefore it is somehow OK for it to delete correspondence that on a whim it declares as spam.

Meanwhile, I wanted to receive everything addressed to me; and if that automation then has concerns about some things being spam then labelled accordingly but not automatically deleted.

How arrogant to presume otherwise. Especially that I now found out that a host of false positives were trashed without letting me know or letting me have a chance to make a decision ABOUT MY MAIL!

Answer 2

Outlook.com and Outlook on the web always apply server-side spam filtering before messages reach the mailbox. Messages that are confidently identified as spam can be moved to Junk Email or deleted according to the service’s protection policies and any anti-spam configuration in Microsoft 365. There is no supported way to completely disable all spam filtering and force delivery of every message directly to the Inbox.

However, several settings can reduce the impact on legitimate mail and help ensure important messages are delivered:

1. Turn off additional junk filtering in Outlook on the web (if available)
   • At the top of the page, select Settings.
   • Select Mail > Block or allow.
   • Under Manage your junk email, choose Don’t move email to my Junk Email folder.
   • This disables the user-level junk filter for that mailbox. Note that messages detected as spam by Exchange Online Protection may still be filtered according to admin policies.
2. Use Safe Senders and Recipients
   • Go to Settings > Mail > Junk email (or Block or allow, depending on UI).
   • Under Safe senders and domains, select Add safe sender and add:
     • Specific email addresses that must always reach the mailbox.
     • Entire domains (for example, the domain used by financial or medical providers) when appropriate.
   • Under Safe Senders and Recipients (in Block or allow), add trusted senders and recipients so their messages are not diverted to Junk.
   • Optionally enable Trust email from my contacts so messages from contacts are treated as safe.
3. Check and clean up Blocked Senders
   • In Settings > Mail > Junk email (or Block or allow), review Blocked senders and domains.
   • Remove any addresses or domains that should not be blocked.
4. Review Junk Email folder behavior
   • In Outlook.com, messages in Junk are automatically deleted after 10–30 days. If Junk appears empty, it may be because items are being auto-deleted on that schedule.
   • Regularly review the Junk Email folder (when messages appear) and mark legitimate messages as Not junk. This trains the system and can improve future delivery.
5. If senders are seeing 5.7.520 AS(9530) and messages are never delivered
   • This error indicates the message is being rejected at the service level as spam or policy-violating mail.
   • Affected senders (for example, financial or medical organizations) should:
     • Verify SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are correctly configured for their sending domain.
     • Check their IP and domain reputation and ensure they are not on blocklists.
     • Review message content to avoid spam-like characteristics (excessive links, scripts, or “bulk” patterns).
     • If they still have issues, their IT or mail admin can use the Outlook.com sender support channel described in the Sender Support in Outlook.com article to contact Microsoft and investigate deliverability.

Because spam filtering is a core security feature, it cannot be fully disabled, but using Safe Senders, adjusting junk email settings, and having senders fix authentication and reputation issues will minimize false positives and help ensure critical messages are delivered.

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References:

• Block or allow (junk email settings)
• Filter junk email and spam in Outlook
• Mail goes to the Junk folder by mistake
• Change the level of protection in the Junk Email Filter in Outlook
• Sender Support in Outlook.com
• Frequently asked questions - Anti-spam protection