Unblockable emails

Question

Unblockable emails

Scott Woody 0

Hi—I have observed an increasing number of very likely spam emails in my Outlook365 inbox. Examples include:

info@[an_12 .com

GlucoSteady_Daily <info@[an_12 .com>

Ace_Hardware_Giveaway [info@ Brain_Recovery .com

Please note two things: the info[an_12.com have been appended to three separate junk emails; also, that each of the emails bear a domain name that is preceded by an open bracket symbol.

Do I need to write a rule in order to block and report as spam any similarly-formatted email? I f so, I’d appreciate a step-b-step guide to doing so.

Thanks in advance, Scott

Hornblower409 13,300 Reputation points

2026-08-06T19:59:59.5766667+00:00

If the AI Answer did not solve your problem, type "Not Solved" in the "Add Comment" box below and then click the [Add Comment] button. I will try to offer some suggestions on what you can do next.
Scott Woody 0 Reputation points

2026-08-08T01:01:44.5+00:00

not solved

3 answers

Your answer

Hornblower409 13,300 Reputation points

2026-08-06T19:59:59.5766667+00:00

If the AI Answer did not solve your problem, type "Not Solved" in the "Add Comment" box below and then click the [Add Comment] button. I will try to offer some suggestions on what you can do next.
Scott Woody 0 Reputation points

2026-08-08T01:01:44.5+00:00

not solved

Answer 1

@Scott Woody said

an increasing number of very likely spam emails in my Outlook365 inbox.

Clarification please. Do you really mean your "Inbox"? Or your "Junk Email" folder?

If the emails are going directly to your "Junk Email" folder, then I'm sorry, but you have no control over emails that are delivered to your "Junk Email" folder. Blocking won't work and Rules don't auto run.

All I can suggest is that you look at the Answer by "Hornblower409 Apr 23, 2026" in
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5867493/how-to-solve-receiving-a-huge-number-of-spam-email

That Answer has instructions for how to vote for some Feature Request that would give users more control over their Junk folder and some suggestions for MANUAL processes you can use to pick out and Delete any "known" Spam from the Junk folder so you don't have so much to sift thru looking for legitimate emails.

Please advise if these are not in your "Junk Email" folder, and I'll offer some other suggestions.

Answer 2

Scott Woody 0

Outlook365

Hornblower409 13,300 Reputation points

2026-08-13T02:39:40.8433333+00:00

Scott said,

[What Outlook client do you have?] Outlook365

Which of these looks like what you have?

Classic Outlook

New Outlook for Windows

Outlook Web

Answer 3

Scott Woody 0

The nuisance emails land directly into my inbox. While I can delete the emails, I cannot block them. Furthermore, when I go to junk mail options and dutifully enter the email address of the offending post, I get the same message as when I right-click on the email inbox header: "not a valid email address or domain name".

Hornblower409 13,300 Reputation points

2026-08-12T06:37:11.2533333+00:00
Scott,

The email address you show are certainly invalid. Underscores and square brackets are not valid characters in a domain name. So that is not the "real" From address. It is the "Display Name". To find the real From:

In Outlook

Right click on one of these emails.

Choose View -> View message source.

Scan thru the Message Source until you find a line that starts with From: e.g.

The part in the angle brackets is the real From address.

The part of the real From address after the "@" is the real From Domain

Take the real From Domain (without the leading "@" or the trailing ">") and see if you can add that to your Blocked Senders List?
Scott Woody 0 Reputation points

2026-08-12T20:24:08.9866667+00:00

OK, so I right-click on one of the emails but I do not find a "view>view message source" among the options in the flyout menu.
Hornblower409 13,300 Reputation points

2026-08-12T21:20:30.7133333+00:00
Scott said

I right-click on one of the emails but I do not find a "view>view message source"

You tagged your question as Outlook | Web | Outlook.com and when I use Outlook Web at https://outlook.cloud.microsoft/ I see this:

If this is not what you are seeing, please advise what Outlook Client you are using.

What Outlook client do you have?

I use a web browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari, etc.) -> Outlook Web

I use a Mac -> Outlook for Mac

I use a phone or tablet -> Outlook for Android or Outlook for iOS (iPhone, iPad)

I use a Windows PC and my Outlook menu has ONLY the tabs: File | Home | View | Help -> New Outlook

Else -> Classic Outlook