How to Report a Phishing or Spam Email to Microsoft

You receive an email that you find suspicious (potentially a phishing email) that you ignore or delete. Another option is to report the email to Microsoft for analysis through the Outlook add-in called Report a specific Microsoft message or address.

In addition, you can use the process to report a “false negative”, that is, a spam message that should have been identified as spam but was not. You can also use it to report a “false positive”, that is, legitimate email that has been incorrectly identified as spam. Microsoft is analyzing these messages to improve its spam filtering technology.

SEE: Phishing Attacks: A Guide for IT Pros (Free PDF) (TechRepublic)

First, if you are using Outlook, install and activate the Report Message Add-in. This add-in works with your Office 365 subscription and the following versions of Outlook: Outlook on the web, Outlook 2013 SP1, Outlook 2016, Outlook 2016 for Mac, and Outlook included with Office 365 ProPlus. You’ll also need an Office 365 work account to activate add-ins.

After installing the report message, select an email that you want to report. Click the Report Message icon on the Home ribbon, then select the option that best describes the message you want to report, such as spam or phishing. You can also report a legitimate message that has been marked as spam by selecting the Not Junk option (Figure A).

Figure A

By default, a confirmation message appears. Click the Report button to send your report (Number B).

Number B

You can turn off the confirmation message, if you want. Click the Report message icon and select Options. In the Options window, check Send reports automatically, then click Save (Figure C).

Figure C

If you don’t use Outlook, or if your version is not supported by the Message Reporting Add-in, you can forward a phishing or spam email to Microsoft. To do this, create a blank email in your email programs.

• For a phishing email address your message to [email protected]
• For spam, send it to [email protected]
• For legitimate email falsely flagged as spam, direct it to [email protected]

Copy and paste the phishing or junk email attachment into your new message, then send it (Number D).

Number D

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