This topic

Blocking unwanted email domain

HarryCrowley — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 13:21:57 GMT

How do I block an entire domain to stop unwanted emails.

Problem is that spoofers now seem to use email domains which have a first part, between the @ and the .com etc, generated as a random string. So when using the BT mail block domain setting it does not work because you can not use a wild card * to block all possible strings between the @ and the .com

Have raised this with BT but they have not been able to fix it as it is not a user setting but seems to need BT to revise their interface to allow the wild card * between the @ and the .com

An example is: user@<randomstring>.click

BT domain setting *@<randomstring>.click only blocks the user

Need to do *@*.click to block any <randomstring> part of the domain name

The emails are mostly unwanted porn, dating sites, gambling.

I could set up a list of permitted email addresses from historic contacts and then block all others but would rather not do this.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

gg30340 — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 13:50:13 GMT

You are wasting your time trying to block spammers email domains. They constantly change them. The only effective way to stop spammers is to do as you have suggested, and that is to effectively create a whitelist of your contacts and block all other email addresses.

This however would prevent any genuine emails that are not in your contact list from getting through to you.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

HarryCrowley — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 14:09:54 GMT

Thanks for the comment. Final item is why I would like to avoid the white list route. Looking at all the rubbish I have had there are 11 domain endings which cover them all .click, .monster, .cyou etc so using the wild card method on these 11, if BT enable it, would cover 99% of the problem.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

gg30340 — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 15:46:24 GMT

Keep marking them as spam and eventually the BT spam filter will catch up or more likely the spammers will move on to annoy somebody else.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

andydenyer — Fri, 11 Nov 2022 21:01:12 GMT

Thanks for raising this @HarryCrowley as I have been receiving junk emails from those domains for weeks now.

And @gg30340 I have been reporting these as spam to BT day in and day out, but their spam filters just don't seem to be learning. And I do understand the concepts behind how these self-learning type systems work, but also the limitations they have (and the spammers are obviously exploiting and taking advantage of).

Somewhat bizarrely, one of the limitations is that they fail to identify patterns that are completely obvious to the human eye. Which means that what is needed is some manual intervention to add some coding (which shouldn't really be too difficult) to filter out all the emails coming from the domains with such obvious patterns.

Those that I have been reporting to BT over the past few weeks include:

newsletter@*.cfd
newsletter@*.click
newsletter@*.club
newsletter@*.cyou
newsletter@*.digital
newsletter@*.fun
newsletter@*.live
newsletter@*.lol
newsletter@*.monster
newsletter@*.online
newsletter@*.pic
newsletter@*.quest
newsletter@*.sbs
newsletter@*.shop
newsletter@*.site
newsletter@*.skin
newsletter@*.space
newsletter@*.store
newsletter@*.xyz

As @HarryCrowley states, the block domain setting needs to allow you to use a wild card * to block all possible strings between the @ and the .com i.e. in the formats I have listed above.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

HarryCrowley — Sat, 12 Nov 2022 09:35:10 GMT

Thanks. In one way it is good to see that I am not the only one with this issue.

I have a case open with BT for this and will advise on any result.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

HarryCrowley — Fri, 25 Nov 2022 23:56:13 GMT

Just to let all know how things are going.

So far BT have been unable to resolve this issue.

Have sent the following to BT in response to their action:

Thanks for this and the time you are putting in to dealing with my problem.

We do not seem to be making much headway and I suspect that the issue requires a fundamental review of BT's internet email system.

This is probably as situation which requires a substantial financial commitment which will need approval at board level.

As to date I have not had a satisfactory resolution of this issue I have forwarded copies of the most recent offending email to the CEO to assist him in appreciating the nature of the problem and directing an appropriate course of action to deal with the issue.

I will continue to keep the CEO advised of any such offending emails until such time as this issue is dealt with.

Regards

Harry Crowley

Not sure is any of the above is at variance with the site rules but no doubt I will be told off if it does.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

licquorice — Sat, 26 Nov 2022 08:40:44 GMT

You are wasting your time, nothing will be done however much you complain. BT consider email to be a free add-on to your broadband and offer it as a take it or leave it service.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

gg30340 — Sat, 26 Nov 2022 08:55:39 GMT

@licquorice wrote:

You are wasting your time, nothing will be done however much you complain. BT consider email to be a free add-on to your broadband and offer it as a take it or leave it service.

In fact, from 26th October 2022 BT stopped offering the email service to new customers and to existing customers who have not already set up a BTMail email address.

Re: Blocking unwanted email domain

HarryCrowley — Sat, 26 Nov 2022 09:36:39 GMT

To clarify.

My BT email account is a stand alone paid for account.

I do not use BT as my broadband provider.

Where I live BT still only provide broad band over a twisted pair supply which is very very slow so I have an independent provider with a direct fibre connection.