Advice Request Spam is bypassing my Gmail filters and I don't know how to block it.

[TedCruz]

For the past month a spam e-mail has been bypassing the Gmail Spam filters, I have reported the e-mail as Spam by every time it still comes through. The tell tale sign of the spam is always an IP address in the e-mail body followed by Image Attachments (Removed!). I do not know how to block it since the domains of the e-mail always change. The Subject also changes, sometimes it's AMAZON DEAL, AMAZON Tracking to SHELL GAS etc.

 

[cruelsister]

I received the Amazon deal- free $100 (I must have won something!). All I had to do is go to the website provided and input my name, my Banks's name along with the account number and password so that Amazon could transfer the funds into the account! My lucky day!!!

 

[TedCruz]

First, I would check if my email address is found in a recent data breach using haveibeenpwned.com and secure my accounts by changing passwords and enabling 2FA.

Regarding Spam, you can use Thunderbird to access your email from desktop and pair it with a good security solution that has a spam filter such as Eset and Kaspersky.

Another option would be to create inbox rules to categorise your emails into folders.

My ultimate solution to avoid spam is by using SimpleLogin which allows you to create unlimited aliases which you can use to create account without exposing your real email. If one alias starts receiving spam, you can easily disable or even delete it with a single click.

If you reached to a point where you receive uncontrollable number of spam emails and your email is found in numerous data breaches, I would create a new Gmail account and use SimpleLogin to create aliases. Your main account should not be used to sign up to any service even for very important ones. Leave it all to SimpleLogin. I know this can be tedious but this is when configured is a very robust solution.

Thank you. It's interesting since normally Gmail is very good at their spam detection but somehow this specific spam campaign bypasses their filters even after I've been reporting and blocking it over the past month (on a daily basis). I would have thought that by now their algorithm would have adjusted to consider those type of e-mail as spam, but nope they still arrive into my Important Box category. I will try the SimpleLogin. Thank you.

The only common thread about the spam which appears on every spam e-mail in the body is just a random IP address on the top left of the body: i.e. ###.###.###.### then few words and the rest of it are image links to either an Amazon Item or Best Buy Item or etc. I never click the links, I normally block all tracking pixels.

 

[jetman]

If this is becoming a problem, you could consider signing up to Google One for a month. Its not very expensive. That gives you email / telephone support for your Google services, including Gmail. They might be able to help you , or escalate the problem. I'm not sure about the quality of the advice they offer- but it might be worth a try.

Personally I use Google Domains to create lots of custom email addresses which I then auto-forward to my Gmail account. You can get Gmail to send messages from each individual email address without revealing your 'real' underlying Gmail email address. If a particular email address receives lots of spam, it can be deleted. A bit like the Simplelogin service mentioned above but a nicer way of doing it I think.

 

[Alexhousek]

I realize that it is an older service, but I still use Spamcop occasionally. It can be found here--https://www.spamcop.net/

It takes a little bit of effort, but if you use it for a week or so, you will typically find a significant decrease in your spam emails that you are receiving. Just be careful to follow their guide as it does require some effort on your part. The nice thing is that you can forward a whole group of spam emails all at once.

 

[dinosaur07]

I recommend using Mailwasher Pro, it really helps as I remember my spam folder was full of bloated emails and Google doesn't help with it as it doesn't have a block function.

 

[ColonelMal]

In Thunderbird you can filter emails according to whether a sender is or isn't in your addressbook. It's quite simple to send all emails whose sender is not in your contacts to junk mail or another folder for investigation and/or deletion.

There are also plugins to facilitate reporting spam to spamcop if you want to go that way.

 

[Mystic]

DuckDuckGo has recently launched their Email Protection Service. It is free. Check it out if you like.