Spam overload on iCloud Email Address

Update 4/17/2023: My situation has not improved. I have tried changing all of the settings in the Mail app and on iCloud on the web, I have signed out signed in, restarted, reset the SMC, reset the junk filter itself, examined long headers in emails, fired up Terminal, and I am up to 160 junk mails today, and it's barely 9:30 this morning. This used to work really, really well. I hate to editorialize in a support comment, but: modern Apple hardware is impressive indeed - the software side is the worst I have seen it in some time, truly a very long, epic time, not just in terms of functionality, but design as well. I have never encountered this level of trouble with iCloud, or with Mac OS in general, over 30 years, I am very much a power user, and I am at a loss.

This is something on *your*side, Apple, and you need to fix it. These are the sorts of things Microsoft's customers just accepted back in the day. Apple is supposed to be the alternative to that.

Please fix it, Apple. My website gets less spam, and it does not utilize your tools. This used to be the most secure email account I had. Something is clearly not right. I have now encountered people not just in these forums, but that I actually know in real life, who are encountering the same issues, and the OS version seems to be a triviality.

YES I’ve created rule after rule to filter subjects, blocked senders and have the privacy setting set on my phone and macbook. I STILL have upwards of 150 spam emails daily in my inbox. Some are very offensive. How can I make it stop? It is getting progressively worse. I have been battling it for a couple of months now. Never had an issue before this.

Having the same issue. Except the junk I’m getting doesn’t go into my junk folder - it just comes into my regular Inbox. Blocking the senders does nothing except add the little red “no” symbol to the email. Rules and filters don’t work. It’s really changed how I see Apple as a brand, honestly. Serious brand damage, Apple.

Just posting what I did and "maybe" it will work for someone else. It's not an easy fix but my spam has been significantly reduced!! Today , there was one. This has been an issue for me since 11/22 so don't expect miracles ! At first I was following another posters recommendation to "forward as messages" to 'reportfishing@apple.com and also 'abuse@icloud.com". But honestly, the "report fishing" generates an auto answer from apple and that just completely overloaded my junk box! Then I started to just "block contact" on every single spam email. I set up rules for all of this.....still no luck. Finally I just reported everything everyday to the 'abuse' (that doesn't generate a reply from apple) and lo and behold ....it's been a week of a significant reduction. I hope this works for longer than one week....and hopefully maybe it will help someone else.

Co-signed. My iCloud email account is so old that it's actually a .Mac account. I have never had a spam problem until recently — I could check my junk mail folder once a week to easily spot if any legitimate messages ended up in there — but now it suddenly numbers in the hundreds per day. And while most of them end in the spam folder (maybe thanks to Postbox, the email client I use, more than Apple), increasingly I'm seeing messages that slip past that too. The whole reason I stuck with this address was because this was never a problem. Now it's worse than any other email address I have in use! Come on, Apple.

I've replied on this thread several times already. I emptied my junk mail last night. This morning there were 137 new junk mails in the folder. ALL were obviously junk, and would never have even made it through the provider level just a few years ago.

This thread, and others, have led me to some conclusions. (Please forgive my "conspiraceee therieees"):

A) Apple is quite aware of this problem.

B) The software to solve this problem exists, and has existed, for decades.

C) Apple does not see this as a problem. Possible reasons:

• Somehow, Apples is profiting from these junk messages
• Apple is attempting to drive users away from .mac and .me addresses, so they no longer have to support those addresses.
• Other???

Spam on my icloud account has gotten to the point that I only read them from my Microsoft outlook app on my PC. Using this mail app allows me to block domains, which is something Apple should employ. Getting advice to "block" each email separately is absurd! One particular spam domaine has 12 numbers attached to the address. The permutation of combinations is infinite.

SAME HERE. JFC WTF happened? What is even more disconcerting is I cannot change my email address. My main apple id. Once created it's locked in. That's just bs. So rule upon rule I create to immediately place any email received using the words in any kind of variation from You'vewon! or Youve won or youhavewon cause they keep changing the letters around or adding a period and then a set of numbers at the end to keep getting through to you. Even just opening the email to read it pings their servers back to let them know you're there. So if you create a rule to send it directly to trash (but do not tell it to mark it read) and then you just empty your trash or let it empty on auto, they'll stop. But it takes finesse. I have over 50 rules keeping my junk and inbox empty. I maybe get a new one ever so often, but the rules using every possible variation of words numbers and letter combinations is only thing maintaining my sanity.

Greetings mac833,

Since you are receiving spam mail, start y ensuring your have enabled Protect Mail Activity. This could help reduce the spam you receive.

"On your iPhone or iPad

1. Go to Settings > Mail > Privacy Protection.
2. Turn on Protect Mail Activity." Report and reduce spam in iCloud Mail

Learn how to enable this feature on other devices, by visiting the linked resource. This was also the resource you used to reach us.

Should the issue continue, Contact Apple Support for additional guidance.

We hope this helps to reduce the amount of spam you are receiving.

Best wishes.

I have the same issue, and it happened very suddenly. I am getting a TON of spam in my iCloud account, and no amount of messing with the junk filter seems to help. I will wake up to 180 messages in my inbox that I marked as junk the day prior. What the heck happened? The filter was working great before.

This started for me a couple of months ago. It slowed down a bit for a week or so, and now I'm back up to over 100 SPAM emails a day. Some days approach 200. It's NUTS!

Apple - what that heck?? Gmail only lets a handful through each week.

I just called apple support again. the first person was hopeless and I asked for her to escalate to a more experienced person. she did that. he just says that this is what happens when we share our email address out in the world, and that Junk is doing what it should: filtering those emails into the junk folder. When I objected to this being sufficient, he really insisted that is all they can do. When I asked why this had not ever been a problem until 2-3 months ago, he just kept talking about how our email addresses are out there being bought and sold.... When I said that yes, I am aware of that, and that has been going on for years, so what is different now? No real answer.

I explained several times that I've had this email address for over 20 years, and yet only in the last few months has there been a very noticeable increase in spam. also that there is this thread in discussions and that I am not alone.

Here are a couple of things we could all try doing:

1. on a laptop using Apple Mail, highlight ALL the junk mail, then choose Message––>Forward as Attachment, and enter reportphishing@apple.com
2. you can do the same action and also send it all to abuse@icloud.com
3. you can go to apple.com/feedback and leave feedback about this situation

I have no idea if any of this will help, but I also figure it will at least cause them to realize there IS A PROBLEM! (And do I feel badly that they will be receiving a deluge of mail? I do not.. :) )

I did request that today's tech support person address the terrible advice I received last week from tech support, and also that he raise this issue so that Apple may actually pay attention to this.

Amazing that a company as innovative and talent rich as Apple can’t solve this issue.

cygnetswan wrote:

So I received a message from Apple: "We’ve edited your post SPAM overload on ICloud Email Address because it contained inappropriate language or comments."

What that tells me is:

1) They do know about the situation/are monitoring posts.

2) Have no plans to address the issue. (Many complaints on twitter too, with no official commitment to address.)

Those are incorrect assumptions. Apple Hosts monitor these threads for adherence to the terms of use. They do not read them for feedback or pass on any such feedback to the responsible parties. Their are simply too few hosts, too many posts and too little time.

Use the feedback page to let Apple know your thoughts:

Product Feedback - Apple