Spam filter

[sanders2378]

Hi

When I email from my work address (which is an onmicrosoft.com domain), I get the error 'btinternet.com suspects your message is spam and rejected it'.   It doesn't appear in the spam, so can't be added as a safe sender, it is already in my contacts. 

If I email work and reply, it is successful, but if I compose a new message, it fails again with the same message.  

If it helps, the error says: 550 5.7.350 Remote server returned message detected as spam -> 554 Message rejected on 2022/03/16 18:15:28 GMT, policy (3.2.1.1) ID (61B40F1A1950A152) - Your message looks like SPAM or has been reported as SPAM

Thank you. 

[gg30340]

You can add an email address to your "Safe Senders" list as long as you know the email address.

To do this log onto your email account using a browser and then click on your username at the top right and click on settings.

Once there click on Mail in the left hand column and scroll down to "Safe Senders" and click on the address box where it says "Email"  then enter the email address and or the domain if you wish and then click "Add".

[sanders2378]

Thank you, works for me, maybe a challenge to get that process across to everyone else!!!

[gg30340 · Accepted solution]

See the BTMail help pages: Using Safe Sender Feature.

Using BT Mail's anti-spam features | BT Help

[sanders2378]

Thank you 🙂

[DrHC]

The BT spam filter is all very well if you use webmail.  I prefer to receive all my emails to my PC email client (Outlook) and very rarely indeed view them on webmail.  However, over the past week or so I have not had emails from a particular contact if they had attachments - emails from that same contact without attachments came through OK.  A complete mystery and great annoyance as I knew other people had received that contacts emails with attachments OK.  As a last resort I have just checked my webmail spam box and there they were!  I have marked that contact on webmail as a safe sender and hope that stops this happening again. 

We all know that spam and phishing is a very great nuisance and it certainly wastes an awful amount of my time but I cannot afford to miss any legitimate emails.  I alone can decide accurately what is and is not spam, not some automated system.

[gg30340]

@DrHC

If you got every single piece of spam that was destined for your Inbox you would be swamped with spam. BT and all the other ISPs remove known spam prior to it reaching and swamping your Inbox. 

Unfortunately there is no BT page with information regarding the amount of spam that is sent on their system but this link is regarding gmails spam filers and BTMail will no doubt do something similar.

An overview of Gmail’s spam filters | Google Cloud Blog

The following link is some information supplied by BT regarding spam.

Using BT Mail's anti-spam features | BT Help

How to deal with spam in BT Email | BT Help

As regards your problem of genuine emails going into your spam folder on webmail and you having to log onto webmail to check for it.

Presumably you are using Outlook set as an IMAP account and if you are you should set Outlook to show the BTMail spam folder and you will be able to check it in Outlook rather than logging onto webmail.

[Rick1948]

BT's spam filter has become unmanageable, randomly assigning valid emails to spam from senders who had previously been deemed acceptable. Regularly checking a folder full of junk for valid emails is tedious. In the past, it was possible to turn off their filter if you downloaded emails to a desktop (using Outlook) and sort out everything locally, but this facility has been turned off by BT for some ridiculous reason. Having raised a fault with BT and got nowhere, I have found the only way to manage this is to mark every sender as safe, including known junk, and put sensible spam settings locally on my PC. This way, the BT spam folder is usually empty, so emails incorrectly marked as spam by BT can be easily spotted. I have no idea why BT feel they know best, especially when they filter selected emails from valid senders such as Hargreaves Lansdown (who manage my pension). They need to take a long, hard look at their spam algorithm, then chuck it away and start again.

[Andy_N]

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@Rick1948wrote:

BT's spam filter has become unmanageable, randomly assigning valid emails to spam from senders who had previously been deemed acceptable. Regularly checking a folder full of junk for valid emails is tedious. In the past, it was possible to turn off their filter if you downloaded emails to a desktop (using Outlook) and sort out everything locally, but this facility has been turned off by BT for some ridiculous reason. Having raised a fault with BT and got nowhere, I have found the only way to manage this is to mark every sender as safe, including known junk, and put sensible spam settings locally on my PC. This way, the BT spam folder is usually empty, so emails incorrectly marked as spam by BT can be easily spotted. I have no idea why BT feel they know best, especially when they filter selected emails from valid senders such as Hargreaves Lansdown (who manage my pension). They need to take a long, hard look at their spam algorithm, then chuck it away and start again.

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Why are you still using BTinternet email addresses?

The simple fix and answer is to stop using it and use something else like GMail. It will take a few months to tell all your contacts and update online logins etc - but once done, everyone will be better off for it.

[Rick1948]

Changing email provider is hardly a simple fix when, as you state, it would take several months to effect, and who is to say that gmail is going to be any better, long term. I have been with BTinternet for many years and do not wish to change from what in many ways is a good service, simply because there is currently a fault with its spam filtering. The "simple fix" is for BT to revert to providing users with the option not to use the BT spam filter, like they used to. As a retired IT consultant, I would happily assist them in this at no charge.