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Spam sent from my email address

maranello
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Spam sent from my email address

Is there any way of filtering spam emails that appear in my inbox apparently sent by me? I've looked at the message headers, but confess I don't know what to look for to add to the blacklist. From various messages there does not to be a consistent 'sent from' address.

Any help/advice appreciated.

My other car isn't a Ferrari
23 REPLIES 23
TheMightyAJ
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

Hi @maranello,

If you're using your email address via the webmail portal, you can change the spam settings via the "Manage My Mail" page on your Member Centre.

For more information on how to make the most of your Plusnet email address, please click here.

If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Alex H
 Plusnet Help Team
maranello
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@TheMightyAJ

Thanks for your response. However, I'm not sure I understand the implications of your reply. Are you saying that changes to spam settings in 'Manage my Mail' only have an impact on Webmail? I generally use email clients on both a Windows laptop and Android tablet. I'm familiar with using spam settings and was really looking for advice as to what address or domain i should look for and choose from the message header to add to the blacklist. 

My other car isn't a Ferrari
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎27-04-2007

Re: Spam sent from my email address

Hi @maranello changes to spam settings should affect your email no matter if you're accessing it via webmail or a client. As per your other question it all depends on what you see on the headers. Are the emails showing as coming from your address directly or are they spoofed and coming from another address? 

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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
maranello
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@adamwalker

Thanks for the clarification.

Headers show that emails are coming from another address, but a different one each time.

My other car isn't a Ferrari
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

right, so it does sound like someone spoofing your address wherever these are being generated from rather than them originating from your network. Would you be able to get a copy of the headers over to me on a PM? 

 

 

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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
spraxyt
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@maranello Entries in the Spam Settings Blacklist should be taken from the Return-path: header which is normally at the top of headers list. This will generally be in angle brackets <....> which should *not* be copied to the blacklist.

Either the full email address can be given or just the part after the @ but wild card asterisks are not permitted.

David
maranello
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@adamwalker PM sent

@spraxyt Thanks

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maranello
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@adamwalker

I have sent you another example of message received which spoofs my email address, via PM.

My other car isn't a Ferrari
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

Cheers for the PMs they do indeed show that the addresses they originate from are spoofing yours so in order to block those by address or domain you'd need to be using the addresses which are then being spoofed. 

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 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
maranello
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@adamwalker

Thanks for confirming. Unfortunately the email address that is spoofing my own is a different address each time . Blacklisting the domain or address won't stop them getting through. I'll just have to learn to ignore them.

My other car isn't a Ferrari
spraxyt
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@maranello From the descriptions in this topic I'm guessing you are receiving spam messages with the From address spoofed to be your own. Ideally the content of these messages should trigger the Cloudmarks to tag them as spam and move them to the Spam folder if you have that option set in Manage My Mail.

If spam tagging isn't happening you could try manually moving the messages to the Spam folder in webmail and using the "This is spam" button to report them. The effect wouldn't be instantaneous, but in time might help.

An alternative/additional approach, if you use IMAP collection with an email client supporting Mail Filters is to set up a rule that on receipt moves such messages to the IMAP spam folder if the From address is your own. This doesn't cure the problem but minimises their nuisance value. Of course it relies on you not deliberately sending messages to yourself, eg by device emailing its logs.

David
maranello
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@spraxyt

Thank you David for your helpful suggestions/advice. You are correct in that I am receiving messages to my Inbox that are spoofed with my own address. I have spam protection on at its lowest level, but nevertheless these messages are being tagged as spam. I have opted to have these delivered to my inbox as I also receive messages incorrectly tagged as spam from organisations I have subscribed to.

I checked in Webmail (which I rarely use) and I do not have a Spam folder, presumeably because my setup in Manage My Mail is to deliver messages marked as spam to my Inbox. I do however have a Junk folder, which I thought was the same as the Spam folder, but in Webmail there does not appear to be a button to Mark as Spam in the Junk folder.

I like your suggestion of setting up a rule in the mail client, as I use IMAP collection for all the email clients I use on a Windows 10 laptop, Android phone and tablet, although I believe the email apps on my Android devices are not sophisticated enough to set up rules so I would need to look at alternatives.

The return-path address for these emails, which you suggested I look at in an earlier post, is different each time, and I have given up blacklisting these addresses in Manage my Mail. I'm assuming the blacklist only affects my own mail account and does not have a wider impact within the Cloudmark spam protection.

My other car isn't a Ferrari
spraxyt
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@maranello This isn't of concern based on your reply but first I need to correct a mistake in my previous post regarding how to report missed Spam. The messages shouldn't be moved away from the Inbox since that is where the "This is spam" button is located. Embarrassed

I've marked the phrase to be removed in red, and added blue text for clarity in the following revision.


@spraxyt wrote:

If spam tagging isn't happening you could try manually moving the messages to the Spam folder in webmail and using the webmail Inbox "This is spam" button to report them. The effect wouldn't be instantaneous, but in time might help.


On to your reply now. Smiley


@maranello wrote:

I checked in Webmail (which I rarely use) and I do not have a Spam folder, presumably because my setup in Manage My Mail is to deliver messages marked as spam to my Inbox. I do however have a Junk folder, which I thought was the same as the Spam folder, but in Webmail there does not appear to be a button to Mark as Spam in the Junk folder.

The folder which webmail labels Junk is actually the Spam folder. And that with label Deleted Items is actually Trash. These changes occur because of Special Folder assignments built into webmail. These assignments can be viewed by logging into webmail, clicking Settings at the top and Special Folders on the left. The settings should be as shown in this image.

webmailSpecFldrs.png

 

I like your suggestion of setting up a rule in the mail client, as I use IMAP collection for all the email clients I use on a Windows 10 laptop, Android phone and tablet, although I believe the email apps on my Android devices are not sophisticated enough to set up rules so I would need to look at alternatives.

I had in mind setting a rule up only on one "master" computer, rather than on all devices. When the master moves it the others should react accordingly. However I'm uncertain if the message will still be regarded as "just arrived" if it's been opened on a different device first. It might be necessary to replace "just arrived" with something like "always" to ensure it gets moved.</p>

The return-path address for these emails, which you suggested I look at in an earlier post, is different each time, and I have given up blacklisting these addresses in Manage my Mail. I'm assuming the blacklist only affects my own mail account and does not have a wider impact within the Cloudmark spam protection.


Yes, unfortunately the spammers are experts at their craft and don't make it easy to block their efforts. However are the Return-path values consistent in messages from mailing lists which are getting tagged as spam? I wondered if adding these to the whitelist might help so that "move to the Spam folder" could be turned on again?

You are correct that Manage My Mail whitelist/blacklist entries affect only your own account.

David
maranello
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Re: Spam sent from my email address

@spraxyt

Thanks again for your response. I haven't manage to investigate further as I have had too many other distractions, but hopefully I should be able to find time over the weekend to consider your suggestions.

One thing I would like to test is what happens to messages from white listed addresses that the spam filters would otherwise class as spam. In effect, does white listing simply remove the [SPAM] mark from headers, and would it prevent spam messages from being placed in the spam/junk folder. 

My other car isn't a Ferrari