How do I filter out a Phishing scam email if the sender name and address is exactly the same as on the legitimate emails?

Hi BensonMathison,

 

I understand that you would like to filter the phishing emails you're receiving. I also understand how frustrating this must be on your end. Don't worry, let us help you with this.

 

There are several settings you could use in order to block these emails completely, you can follow the steps I have provided below:

 

You could add emails addresses in your Block Senders List as a suggestion. You can do this by following the steps I have provided below:

1. Go to your Outlook.com inbox
2. Click the gear icon on the upper right hand corner next to your name.
3. Choose More Mail Settings.
4. Under Preventing junk email, choose Safe and Blocked Senders.
5. Choose Block Senders.
6. Add an email address on the blank on the left hand side and click Add to list.

This option would block emails from that specific email address from coming into your account. That means it would be automatically deleted.

 

You can also add rules to your email account to filter your emails. You can follow the steps provided below for creating rules.

1. Go to your Outlook.com inbox
2. Click the gear icon on the upper right hand corner next to your name.
3. Choose More Mail Settings.
4. Under Customizing Outlook, click Rules for Sorting New Messages.
5. Click New.
6. For step 1 and 2, you can choose among the options provided for you so you can automatically deleted this emails.

I hope this helps. Please don't hesitate to reply to this thread if you have additional questions.

 

Thanks!

I was looking for a slightly more technical answer...I am aware of those options for blocking unwanted mail, however, as I stressed in my original post, the phishing scam sender name and address is exactly the same in the scam emails as in the legitimate emails, so if I put the email address on my block list, I won't get the legitimate emails.

 

The only different real difference I can see between the scam emails and the legitimate ones is some of the grammar is bad in the scams, and the links in the scams are to fake, malicious sites.

 

Do you have any better suggestions?

Hello Benson,

 

Since you want to filter spam emails from a certain contact, this should be done on the sender's end by advising them to change their password. There's a possibility that the sender's account has been hijacked or his/her computer system has been corrupted resulting in compromising your account such as viruses and/or malware. What you can do on your end is to create rules like (Delete messages if Subject contains word Spam) or report your friend has his/her account has been hacked.

 

To do this, follow the steps below:

 

1. Login to your Microsoft account.

2. Open the spam/phishing emails you've received.

3. Click the dropdown arrow beside the Junk option.

4. You will have an options to select Junk, Phishing scam and My friend's has been hacked!.

 

Hope this helps.

Another good try, but unfortunately it's not a 'friend' that is sending the mails, it is a company.  ArenaNet regarding Guild Wars 2, so I highly doubt it is their mail system that has been hacked, it is far more likely that the sender is merely spoofing their name and address.

 

And I also cannot filter on the subject line, as the subject changes, and is also the same as the legitimate emails.

 

I believe that the only difference might be in the originating mail server address.  Is there a way I can filter on that and only allow through the messages from a valid server address?

Hi BensonMathison,

 

I would like to ask for the message source of the phishing email that you received from ArenaNet so we can review it for investigation. Just right-click on the email message and then choose view message source.

 

You can just copy and paste the entire message source on the private message. You need to login to this website to see the private message tab. Kindly post back to this public thread once you have replied to the private message to notify us of your response.

 

Thank you.

Johan

Hi BensonMathison,

 

We appreciate the message source that you provided. Have you tried contacting guildwars2.com about the email message to validate the authenticity of the email?

 

If you are sure that this is a phishing email, what we recommend is to report this to our Online Safety Team for investigation. To do this, you can visit this link Report abuse, phishing, or spam in Outlook.com.

 

You can also check this link What is phishing? for additional information about phishing emails.

 

Thank you.

Johan

Thanks for the info.  I am sure it is a scam, and guildwars2.com has no means for submitting the mail for investigation.

 

The reason I submitted this is because I have been marking these messages as phishing scams (as per the link you provided) for a couple months now, at least one a day, and they just keep coming.  I was really hoping to find some way to block them without blocking the legitimate ones.

 

Thanks anyways though.

I had been having the same problems..I finally figured out how to fix it: 1.click on the cog wheel at the top right of the page. 2. select options at the bottom....that opens a pane on the left side of the page..3.near the bottom is a category called junk email.... click on "filters and reporting" 4. click on exclusive....now any email except from trusted or contacts will go to your junk folder...The only problem with this is that some emails go there that shouldn't ...to prevent this : 1. click on the email from junk folder and when it comes up click on the colored circle which brings up the senders info (address etc)...click on ADD and that will add the sender to your contacts and then future  emails from them will go to the in box...another option is to go to "rules"...when you bring up the email at the top there are several options...on the far right is one that is three dots in a line...click on that and that opens a list one of which is "create rule..." click on that and it brings up a page where you can choose special "rules" for that sender...it's kind of complicated, but I figured it out and I'm kinda dumb.(the first box asks you to enter a name for the rule choose whatever you want and type it in)..I x'ed the box beside of "which contains the words" so the rule applies to any message from that safe sender, not just ones that contain those words in the subject line....once you've chosen all the rule parameters that you want click on OK at the top. ..You can then check your rules by clicking on the cog at the top of the page..then options..then "inbox and sweep rules" and then a list of the "rules" you've created will be displayed...highlight and then click on the pencil symbol (edit) if you want to change anything in that "rule"...I had been getting emails from my email address ostensibly (spoofing)...so I added that to my rules. I occasionally send a copy of an email to myself, so to prevent it from being sent to junk, you go to the bottom where it says "exception if it matches any of these conditions" and choose "except when received from" and then type in your name..I wish I new how to mark a sender as trusted easily and then I wouldn't have to go thru all this...HOPE THIS HELPS