Is there any point to reporting phishing emails?

That's kind of what I suspected... Microsoft is not looking at this at all and just putting buttons on Outlook so you can feel better about doing something. Obviously, Microsoft doesn't give a **** about helping people protect themselves... doesn't care if people try to help them. Something I suspected all along and why I raised the question I did. Bottom line... Microsoft not doing a thing to help their users and protect their safety... to be expected these days I guess.

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Obviously, Microsoft doesn't give a **** about helping people protect themselves...

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While I am not trying to defend Microsoft in any way, shape or form, am not sure I would go so far as to describe it that way but their communication about any current issues that may exist with the current Junk filter leaves a lot to be desired - there is no question about that. Managing Junk emails is a real challenge even at the best of times even when things are working properly and unfortunately, when things are broken, as it appears to be right now, it doesn't help anything when things take time to fix whatever is wrong.

Have no idea what is broken but not everything can be fixed as fast as people would like. Does that make things any less frustrating? Not in the least bit.

Asking you to trust me here... 95%+ are the same type of phishing... same sender (each day), same format, from different company, same sort of text. A complete moron could spot the similarities in 18 of 20 emails... let alone thousands. They are the exact same sort of thing. Open every one of them and without even reading the text, you know they're the same, they look the same, they want you to do the same thing. I get hundreds each week that only say, "Congratulations! You've won. Click here". I mean seriously... there's no rocket science needed here. CLEARLY nobody is looking at these and even attempting to apply a filter of ANY kind. If you like, I'd be happy to forward them to you rather than clicking the "Report Phishing" button so you can verify.

No... I'll only do that if you insist because it would piss you off as much as it does me. Let me try it another way... Microsoft has NO filter to protect its Outlook users. It couldn't possibly with the number of boilerplate phishing emails that arrive. People should know that and know that clicking the [Report Phishing] button is a waste of their time because Microsoft is not doing a single thing with them... the only way I can get so many of the same email every friggin' week after week is if they are ignoring my "Reports".

First, Just so there is no misunderstanding, this is a public user-to-user support forum. We're users just like you helping other users. We do not work for Microsoft.

As for trusting you, absolutely do, have seen too many reports lately from different people all reporting the same thing. As I said, the current Junk filter is broken, As for anyone manually looking at this? Doubt it given the millions (billions?) of junk messages floating around at any given time.

You are also not going to get me trying to defend the situation - the current situation "sucks" and there is really no nice way of putting it.

In regard to

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same sender (each day), same format, from different company, same sort of text.

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One thing I might suggest is creating an <Inbox> rule using the following settings - not as some kind of permanent solution but simply as a possible way to reduce the aggravation

Condition: <Message header includes>

Value: ***whatever value you are looking for***

Action: <Delete>

Use inbox rules in Outlook.com

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/use-in...

This link will bring you to the <Inbox> rules

https://outlook.live.com/mail/0/options/mail/rules

Without taking anything away from what you have said, please indulge me with the following standard reply I give to those who ask about a sudden increase in <spam> and <unexpected> log in attempts describing how email addresses are harvested which you may find of interest. I can tell you that I have multiple Outlook.com email accounts and not one ever gets any spam (and I do mean <never>). Unfortunately I can't say the same for a couple of other non-Microsoft email addresses I use which get a boatload of crap every day - just a fact of life.

The usual source of a sudden increase in failed login attempts or spam mail received is that the email address was harvested by a hacker who breached a data base on a website where you subscribed to something. That database gets repeatedly sold to other hackers/spammers on the dark web.

Many people think that hackers penetrate the actual Microsoft servers to gain access to email accounts when that isn't the case. Instead they gain access to an actual account via any number of other ways including phishing emails.

You can check to see if the email address comes up on a breached database on the following website created/run by Microsoft MVP Troy Hunt.

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Pwned websites

https://haveibeenpwned.com/PwnedWebsites#Epik

Other articles that may be of interest

The 773 Million Record "Collection #1" Data Breach

https://www.troyhunt.com/the-773-million-record...

How Do Spammers Get My Email Address?

https://www.lifewire.com/how-do-spammers-get-my...

Protect your privacy on the internet

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/409145...

Protect yourself from phishing

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/pro...

*** if you find that the email address was on a breached website where a password was also entered, what you really do want to do is make sure that the same email address/password combination is NOT being used on other sites (i.e. Social Media, Facebook, Paypal, Amazon etc) and if that password is still the one being used on your email account - make sure to change it immediately. Not a question of <IF> a hacker will test those account(s) - just a matter of <WHEN>

Required Forum Disclaimer: Some of the above links are non-Microsoft websites. The pages appear to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

There's a spam filter but it's not doing what it is supposed to do. Filter is obviously broken or spammers/scammers have found a way to beat the filter. It's a cat and mouse game between mail providers and spammers/scammers and at this point Microsoft needs to up their game.

I have Exchange subscription. I've submitted spam reports and I can see the submission result (verdict=spam/not spam). The verdict does not always agree with me. What I consider spam, Microsoft says it isn't. I gave up reporting long ago. It's a waste of time.