Blocked email still coming through

There are a few reasons this can happen: 

• The sender is also on your allow list. The allow list takes precedence over the block list to ensure no desired mail is lost. Check your allow list to make sure the sender is not on it.
• Your automatic junk mail filtering is turned off. Block/Allow list capabilities require Automatic Junk Mail Filtering to be enabled. 
• The servers take up to an hour to sync changes made to your Allow and Block lists. If you very recently added somebody to your list, they may still be able to send you messages for up to an hour.
• The person you tried to block is in your Contacts list. There is a setting in OWA > Options > block or allow to "Trust email from my contacts." Having this enabled will override any additions you may make to your blocked senders list. Uncheck this option to resolve.

SOLUTION: After an hour in chat with an Apple rep, and more time on the phone with someone in the tech department. I think I discovered the answer to this problem of "Blocked" addresses, which should be getting sent directly to Trash or Spam, showing up in the Inbox, with a message at the top saying, "This message is from a blocked sender."

First make sure that Mail-->Settings-->Junk Mail --> "Blocked" Tab is set to the following:

Then, this is the important part, under the "Mailbox Behaviors" tab, make sure the "Trust Junk mail headers in messages" is checked.

So far, it looks like messages from blocked senders are now going into the Trash bin. According to the Apple support person, this was the necessary toggle switch. He couldn't answer why this toggle switch even exists and defaults to being off.

Possible workaround. I have the same problem re blocked emails. I found a partial solution via serendipity....

I normally read my email on my Mac. One day while I was looking at all the blocked emails in my Spam folder I decided to check the settings on my iPhone thinking maybe there was a setting that was causing the blocked emails to persist. After checking the iPhone settings I opened the Spam folder on my iPhone. It listed 132 emails.... then quickly changed the count to 11. At the same time I noticed activity on my Mac screen. I turned to see that all the blocked emails had disappeared from my Mac and iPhone Spam folder!

I have repeated this process numerous times. Open Spam folder on iPhone and blocked emails on Mac disappear to the trash. It often works on my iPad but not as consistently for some reason that I think is related to other synch issues I have with that iPad.

My conclusion... the email software on the iPhone actually works. So once you cause the blocked emails to move to the Trash the iPhone synchs through iCloud with my Mac. Only question is... why do I have to open the Spam folder to get the iPhone to move the blocked emails to Trash... why doesn't it happen automagically?

To create a rule in Apple Mail that moves emails from Blocked Senders to the Trash.

Open Apple Mail: Launch the Mail application on your Mac.Go to Preferences:

Click on "Mail" in the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Select "Preferences" from the drop-down menu.

Open Rules Preferences:

In the Preferences window, click on the "Rules" tab.

Add a New Rule:

Click on the "Add Rule" button. This will open a new rule configuration window.

Name the Rule:

-Give your rule a descriptive name, like "Block Senders - Move to Trash".

Set Conditions:

Define conditions under which the rule should apply. Since you want to block specific senders, you'll typically choose "From" in the first drop-down menu and "Contains" in the second. Then, enter the email address

or domain of the sender you want to block.

You can add more conditions if needed using the "+" button.

Set Actions:

In the next section, set the actions for the rule. Choose "Move Message" from the first drop-down menu.

From the second drop-down menu, select "Trash".

Optional: Additional Actions:

You can add more actions by clicking the "+" button. For example, you might want to mark the message as read or apply a specific label before moving it to trash.

Save the Rule:

Click "OK" or "Apply" to save the rule.

Enable the Rule:

Make sure the checkbox next to your new rule is checked to enable it.

What are your settings under "Blocked"?

The options are: "Mark as blocked, but leave it in my inbox" or "Move to trash".

I imagine that you have selected the former.

After an hour and half on a chat with an Apple Advisor, I was told this is an issue Apple is looking into and will have to address with an update to Mail. I.e. it's a "bug" of some sort. I told them I was looking forward to the update.

Blocking email does not prevent the email from coming through. At best it will send it to the junk folder.

Regards your explanation...

I received repeat emails from senders I've blocked. They are all spam. I will sometimes see two or three on the same day and all are in my Spam folder with "Message from blocked sender"

-Senders are NOT on my allow list

-Junk mail filtering IS turned on

-Timing is not an issue... I don't expect immediate results, but I don't expect to receive mail today from a sender I blocked yesterday

-The blocked sender is NOT in my Contacts

Bottom line... blocking senders just populates the Spam folder, not the Trash. And this is inefficient because Apple does not do a very good job of differentiating emails from occasional correspondents vs. true spam. So, I have to inspect the 100-150 'blocked' emails in my spam folder to ensure a false positive for spam is dropped in there.

Jpumpkinscones wrote:

Why does apple even allow the messages to come through?!

It is not for Apple to filter the messages addressed to you, unless you decide to.

It is unfortunate if spam e-mail gets through, and this thread suggests that not all is working correctly.

But the opposite may be worse - if an crucial e-mail that you want or need to get is wrongly flagged.

There are two levels where mail filtering may occur.

The first is at your mail provider. If the server blocks a message your mac may not even ever see it.

The second is at your mac. There you can determine which criteria to apply.

This thread indicates that it not always works as supposed to - but more likely than not, it could be that spammers are always using/spoofing different addresses. A similar address to a blocked one may get through.

I think I must be lucky, because I hardly ever see any spam, even though I have several e-mail accounts.

Well protonmail seems to get it right, I can report phishing emails and spam and handles these very well. I've started switching already and plan to no longer use icloud mail. Gmail even does a better job of catching spoof mail. Apple has no excuse.

My Mail settings under "Blocked" indicate, "move to trash", yet every single day I have to delete 50 - 150 of these.

Mail quits while I'm trying to make this happen. Multiple times... why does a company with so much technology NOT have the abililty to stop this?

[Edited by Moderator]

I think with all respect that the answer is not correct, Apple offer the blocking mail and still there to many glitches to fix, it is like they are going to loose customers ( the ones sending spams ), just get serious about, I spend a lot of mula im my Mac 27", and compared to my other Mac 21" from 2011 using Sierra I don't have any problem about, what's tell me is Sonoma the problem. ( I already reinstalled 3 times and the problem persist.

From a similar, not so happy user, receiving Spam emails

There are several possible solutions provided.

Some may require acceptance that Apple does Not Control Spammers

Therefore, it is up to we the users to find workable solutions to the every growing world of Spammers

Is there any way to stop spam emails from… - Apple Community

Exactly. Why? We should never have to see -- "This message is from a blocked sender," because the message should be going directly to Trash. They're always from mass marketers, so has Apple allowed them push their message through the filters.

But hey, Apple, your "Rules" in Mail are not working. This has been ongoing for years. Please fix it.

You don't seem to understand... the messages are ending up in our inboxes with a notification at the top that says, "This message is from a blocked sender." My blocking rule says to send all such emails directly to Trash. Why are these coming through?