Is there any point to reporting phishing emails?

Anonymous
2022-11-30T17:50:08+00:00

I'm using Outlook.live and I get upwards of 50 phishing emails a day. I report them all... every day. This has been going on for years. I get the same type and look of email even though the sender address constantly changes. Most are just a few block sentences, centered, no frills, that says Congratulations you won..., Click here for your prize..., Click here for this... Click here for that...

Blocking senders is a waste of time. They are always different. I thought Microsoft would be able to block based on content but I'm getting the same stuff over and over... Same stuff I've reported as phishing for years so it doesn't appear that the hundreds of thousands of emails I've reported are being looked at by anyone.

Is there no filtering on Microsoft's side? If there is, why is it not working... if not why report the phishing emails??

sr

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-02-16T13:46:03+00:00

    So what the “Report” button does is move the item out of your inbox, and sends it to Microsoft so they can further investigate the data included in the email (email forensics). They can then make changes to the application used to try and filter this, but you can’t add information you don’t have so the “scammer” can just change information in the email or even subtle differences in the email address itself.

    There is also a difference in spam and phishing so if you report a phishing email as spam the verdict of the investigation could be “not spam”.

    Note: I don’t work for Microsoft in any way.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-30T12:42:33+00:00

    AMEN !! One would think that they'd at react to those pretending to be them. But, I guess we can't complain too much about a free service!

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-12-30T12:35:37+00:00

    THANK YOU for your additional efforts !! I now know to not bother with sorting through the junk folder to report the ones that are phishing!

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-21T21:34:38+00:00

    Agree, this is a worthless waste of time. You would think Microsoft or somebody could solve this problem.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-12-21T20:32:51+00:00

    Well said! The more we report, more and more pesky scam emails come. I say, let them eat cake!!!

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