Spam/Junk Email Problems

Below are some common spam/junk email problems and their solutions. For more information about spam and phishing, visit https://it.wvu.edu/defend-your-data.

An email you send is being marked as spam and therefore not delivered

• Your PC may be infected with spyware/virus/bot that is sending out thousands of spam messages without your knowledge.

• Any message sent from this blocked PC will have a 99% chance of being marked as spam and either deleted or quarantined.

• The only way to get your PC off that list is to have your PC cleaned. Download and run an antivirus software. 

You are receiving a lot of spam:

• Spammers constantly change the way they are sending messages to be more effective at infiltrating inboxes.

• To reduce the amount of spam you receive, remove your WVU email address from any mailing lists from companies on the internet. Also, make sure your address is not listed on any websites. Doing a simple Google search on your email address will indicate if you will have problems. If your email address even shows once, it can be a problem. The more results found, the more spammers have the address.

• For more information, go to it.wvu.edu/security/defend-your-data.

You received a message from "mxadmix@systems.wvu.edu" with the subject "spam messages in hold queue since your last digest"

• Click the ID in the email. If nothing happens, make sure you are reading the email in HTML view. Click View and make sure HTML is selected. When you click on the ID and a new message with "Release message from quarantine" appears, click Send.

• If you experience problems releasing spam messages and are getting messages returned as undeliverable, click Reply (instead of the link) and make sure the body of the message is in the reply. Delete the lines of the message above the ID # and any other lines from the message you do not want, and then click Send.

You received an email saying you have spam mail caught by the system

• If you waited more than seven days to release the message, it has already been deleted from the system.

• If you respond within seven days, you should have received an email back. If you did not, contact the ITS Service Desk.

Microsoft 365 junk email settings

Outlook allows you to block/allow senders and change other settings that determine how junk mail is handled. View Microsoft 365 Junk Email Handling to learn more.