For the last several weeks I have been receiving almost 75 emails a day from bogus sites. I have marked email to be blocked in mail and they keep returning with a slightly different email address. Several of the email addresses two or three letters before my email name.
Any suggestions how I can stop this from occurring?
Thanks
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.6
Spam and phishing crap can have dissimilar From header addresses and subject lines and simply be campaigns originating by the same micreant from a owned mail server, or paid account on a commercial email server acting as a conduit for the spam. The good news is that you can block that mail server's Return-Path header address and potentially handle many emails with one or just a few rules. This is what I do.
In your list of Mail received messages, select one that you want to block, then proceed to the next paragraph here.
In a new Mail Preferences > Rule panel, add a rule whose name is arbitrary. Mine is named simply No Spam. On that new rule panel will be a default From selector and action. Click on the From selector and this will present a very long menu whose last item is Edit header list… Select that last item and on the next panel add [+] Return-Path to the list of mail header fields — exactly in that case, and then click OK.
When you click that From selector again, you should see Return-Path right about here, and you should select Return-path.
Leave the Contains as is, and because you selected the spam message beforehand, the Return-path header address will automatically populate the right most text field. This will be <very long string> and using arrow and delete keys, I eliminate everything except the actual domain name in that Return-path. So, if that text string was:
<mylife@mail.mylife.com>
I trim this to:
mylife.com
For the action, I have [ Move Message ] to mailbox: [ 🗑️ Trash ]
You can add more of these Return-Path items in the same Rule, which is what I have done.
All future emails regardless of their header field From or Subject content that originate from this sender are whacked.
You can clean these up with the Mail > Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items [ In all accounts ].
Spam and phishing crap can have dissimilar From header addresses and subject lines and simply be campaigns originating by the same micreant from a owned mail server, or paid account on a commercial email server acting as a conduit for the spam. The good news is that you can block that mail server's Return-Path header address and potentially handle many emails with one or just a few rules. This is what I do.
In your list of Mail received messages, select one that you want to block, then proceed to the next paragraph here.
In a new Mail Preferences > Rule panel, add a rule whose name is arbitrary. Mine is named simply No Spam. On that new rule panel will be a default From selector and action. Click on the From selector and this will present a very long menu whose last item is Edit header list… Select that last item and on the next panel add [+] Return-Path to the list of mail header fields — exactly in that case, and then click OK.
When you click that From selector again, you should see Return-Path right about here, and you should select Return-path.
Leave the Contains as is, and because you selected the spam message beforehand, the Return-path header address will automatically populate the right most text field. This will be <very long string> and using arrow and delete keys, I eliminate everything except the actual domain name in that Return-path. So, if that text string was:
<mylife@mail.mylife.com>
I trim this to:
mylife.com
For the action, I have [ Move Message ] to mailbox: [ 🗑️ Trash ]
You can add more of these Return-Path items in the same Rule, which is what I have done.
All future emails regardless of their header field From or Subject content that originate from this sender are whacked.
You can clean these up with the Mail > Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items [ In all accounts ].
Spam and phishing emails can be a major annoyance and security risk, but fortunately, there are some steps you can take to prevent them from cluttering your Apple Mail inbox.
Firstly, make sure your spam filter is turned on and configured properly. Apple Mail's built-in filter uses machine learning algorithms to identify and block spam messages, but it may need some training to improve its accuracy. You can help it by marking unwanted messages as junk mail using the "Mark as Junk" option in the message's contextual menu.
Another useful feature in Apple Mail is the ability to create rules that can automatically move or delete messages based on various criteria. You can use this to filter out messages from known spam senders or with specific keywords in the subject or body.
To further protect yourself from phishing attacks, be cautious about clicking on links or downloading attachments from unknown or suspicious sources. Always double-check the sender's email address and the URL of any links before clicking on them.
It's also a good idea to enable two-factor authentication for your Apple ID, which adds an extra layer of security to your account and can prevent unauthorized access.
Overall, by being vigilant and taking advantage of the built-in features of Apple Mail, you can significantly reduce the risk of spam and phishing emails.
SpamSieve is an add-on for Mail that works rather well...
https://c-command.com/spamsieve/
But honestly? You can't really block ALL spam. It's a really big problem on the Internet. Most email is actually spam. Corporations spend millions trying to block it.
Providing the sender respects the unsubscribe you can try it. Click the links at the bottom of these spam emails and unsubscribe.
This is why Apple added the options to hide your email and other techniques to obscure your email address. If the problem is particularly awful, you might need to just get a new email address and be very careful not to use it for any online forms, etc. Give it out only to friends, family, and close acquaintances. Create another email to serve as a SPAM bucket.
To add to the excellent suggestions from @James Brickley above
The below will not cut down on Spam e-mails nor will it eliminate Spam e-mails.
Though, it may present some insights as to how exposed your e-mail address may be to Bad Actor Spammers.
E-mail addresses are Bought and Sold on the internet for various reasons including Sold to Spammers.
That is how they make their money.
I have done some testing on some personal e-mail addresses as well as on family members e-mail addresses
Was floored by the results.
Some were exposed by Data Breaches from some will Known Software Developers and even from my Own ISP.
You can only mitigate your exposure in the future and deal wth this Spam as an “ After to Fact “ situation
Thank you both for your help
How to prevent spam and phising emails in apple mail
