Can't block some junk emails

Anonymous
2013-07-23T17:36:32+00:00

Hello, I've been getting hundreds of junk emails since hotmail.com changed over to outlook.com. I have been blocking every single one and it has reduced the amount that get through to my inbox however I have a major problem. I cannot block certain emails because outlook doesn't recognise them as email addresses. For example I get junk emails daily from: admin@.__Bouce_dn but I cannot block this address because it starts with @. which outlook doesn't recognise as an address. Please advise!!!!!

Paul

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Settings

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Anonymous
2013-07-25T06:24:39+00:00

Hello PaulPKlax,

Welcome to Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you with your concern.

We understand that you are having issue with your Microsoft account. You said that you've been getting hundreds of spam emails since your account has been changed to Outlook.com. You also mentioned that you cannot block some of the spam emails because Outlook doesn't recognize them as email address.

There are several ways on how you can block spam emails in your mailbox. Here are some options that you can set up in your account:

Junk mail filter - Selecting Exclusive option. This feature will let you receive emails from your contact list and safe senders list. To set up a junk mail filter to Exclusive, please follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to your Microsoft account.
  2. Click the gear icon located on the upper right panel of your mailbox, just beside your username.
  3. Select More mail settings.
  4. Under Preventing junk email, click on Filters and reporting option.
  5. Under Choose a junk email filter, select Exclusive.
  6. Click the Save button.

Email rules - You can set up email rules to filter incoming emails to automatically delete them and not getting them in your Inbox. If you want to create an email rule to delete emails coming from an email address, kindly refer to these steps:

  1. Sign in to your Microsoft account.
  2. Click the gear icon located on the upper right panel of your mailbox, just beside your username.
  3. Select More mail settings.
  4. Under Customizing Outlook, click the Rules for sorting new messages option.
  5. Click the New button.
  6. Under Step 1: Which messages do you want this rule to apply to?

On the first box with drop down list, select the Sender's address and in the second box with drop down list, select yes.

  1. On the third box, type sender's email address. You may select any option that you want to use at first, second and third box depending on your preference.
  2. Under Step 2: What action do you want to apply? Select Delete these messages.
  3. Click the Save button.

Blocked senders list - You can add email address/es or domain/s in this list to stop receiving emails from them. You also need to delete them from your contact list and safe senders list as well. Here's how?

  1. Sign in to your Microsoft account.
  2. Click the gear icon located on the upper right panel of your mailbox, just beside your username.
  3. Select More mail settings.
  4. Under “Preventing junk email”, click the Safe and blocked senders option.
  5. Click Blocked senders.
  6. In the Blocked email address or domain box, type the email address of the sender or the domain that you want to block, and then click Add to list.

Sweep features - Sweeping emails for deletion. By using Sweep feature it will clean up all the email from a folder and selected users specially emails from spammers. How to use Sweep feature?

  1. Log in to your Microsoft account.
  2. Check the email that that you received from spammers.
  3. On the top of your mailbox user interface click "Sweep."
  4. Once you click "Sweep," select "Delete all from."
  5. Check the small box that stating "Also block future messages."
  6. Click 'Delete all."

All the emails from the spammer will be automatically deleted and it will go directly to your deleted folder.

We hope that those steps will help. If your issue was not fixed, please reply to this message, so we can continue to support you.

Regards,

Carissa J.

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-10-21T13:23:42+00:00

    This happens to me as well. Everyday I got hundreds of junk mail coming to my mail box I manually move them into my junk mail but can't block them because hotmail.com says "can't block because email address is invalid"?

    My Gmail dose NOT have the same issue at all. I've since given up using hotmail completely. I guess Google does everything better than Microsoft.

    It is as if someone at Microsoft makes a profit allowing spam email to pass the server. It does no good at all to turn the IP over to government or Outlook.com staff reporting because nothing is done. Even when you report a spam email IP to their own ISP nothing is done. There should be a "return to sender" option... flood the spammer's own inboxes with returned spam mail. Any sender address that does not form a valid word should not be permitted to pass in cyberspace, period. Until that happens spammers will continue to torment, and taunt.. after 13 years with Hotmail/Outlook.com I moved to Gmail where there rarely is any spam messages at all ever. Some cannot be blocked with options because the mentally sick spammer's address is invalid.

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-15T13:50:31+00:00

    It's sad, but I'm looking at the same solution.  All I ever get is the canned responses from Microsoft or the unhelpful suggestion to "just delete them."  The problem is I'm getting 10+ emails per day and have to be careful I don't delete something that I want.  As I said before, Outlook recognizes that the characters are illegal, so why can't I have an option to junk all email that contains illegal characters?  It doesn't seem like that would take a lot of coding to change.  These illegal email addresses seem to be of two types.  One just contains illegal characters.  The other is headed with "info-" "local-" and other assorted headers that are then followed with email addressed.  For example: ******@xxxx.com.  These addresses cannot be blocked and the part of the address that appears after "info-" and "local-" changes every time.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-04-24T01:35:27+00:00

    Why can't I block EVERYONE not in my address book like in the old days?

    Job done.

    No spam.

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-07-25T21:42:26+00:00

    Hi PaulPKlax,

    I understand your frustration of still having the issue. We also recommend that you follow these guidelines to help reduce junk e-mail:

    * Don't reply to junk e-mail, even to ask to be removed from the sender's mailing list. The sender may simply use that response to confirm that your e-mail address is valid, and continue to send you junk e-mail. To report the message as junk e-mail, select the message, click Junk.

    * To report the e-mail message as a suspected phishing scam (Falsely claiming to be a legitimate business to send you to a fake website or scam you into giving out private information.), click Mark as - Phishing scam.

    * Remove your e-mail address from any web page, newsgroup, or bulletin board available on the Internet.

    * To remove your e-mail address from newsletters or mailing lists that are on your safe senders list, you can click Unsubscribe. Microsoft notifies the people who created the newsletter to stop sending it to you.

    Note: If you receive junk e-mail that looks as if it was sent from your Outlook.com account, someone may have spoofed (Sending messages with fake or stolen account information) your account information.

    If you have any question or clarification, don't hesitate to reply.

    Thanks!

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