Outlook spam has been a recurring complaint from Microsoft users, who in 2023 alone had their inboxes invaded twice by a flood of unwanted emails.

Outlook, which in 2019 was attacked by hackers who accessed thousands of accounts over 3 months, has a major disadvantage for users. The mobile app’s interface doesn’t allow you to block emails.

In other words, it means that if you are an Outlook user and access it via your cell phone, you are vulnerable to unwanted emails entering your inbox, as there is no way to stop them.

It’s worth remembering that companies with verified mailing lists never send spam. So if you are receiving unauthorized messages in your inbox, keep an eye on your online security.

Spam, in addition to damaging the reputation of email marketing senders, can also be the carrier of a phishing attempt, a cybercrime that induces people to click on malicious links.

In fact, it’s important that users don’t even open a message sent without their permission.

Here’s why outlook spam isn’t the only reason users are dissatisfied.

How hackers attacked in 2019

A security vulnerability made it easy for hackers to access thousands of email accounts between January and March 2019.

The criminals were able to see the subject lines of the messages, the senders’ addresses, among other private data.

According to Microsoft, the hacking of accounts was limited to free Outlook account services, such as Oulook.com, Hotmail and MSN, but did not affect users of Office 365 accounts.

The hacking of Outlook accounts took place via the customer support portal. The credentials of an industry professional were tampered with, and Microsoft discovered that outsiders (criminals) were accessing information from thousands of email accounts.

Why did hackers break into Outlook accounts?

According to a source from Vice Media – an American news portal – the reason for hacking into the Outlook accounts was to resell stolen iPhones.

In short, Apple’s security process links each iPhone to a user, and the Outlook accounts were used to circumvent the unlocking of the devices.

In order to unlock them, passwords had to be reset, a process that requires a confirmation link sent by email.

That’s where the hackers’ “service” comes in.

Outlook spam and a dysfunctional application

The mobile application has other limitations as well as not allowing you to block unwanted emails.

Anyone who uses (or tries to use) Outlook on their cell phone is faced with a lack of access to basic Office software. This slows down those who need to read a Word document, for example.

The absence of this functionality requires the user to download the applications for each particular service. This consumes a lot of internal storage space on the phone.

Bad filter

What bothers users the most is that, even though the privacy settings are active, spam in Outlook is still part of the inbox.

And there’s another problem related to email folders: Outlook has a message segmentation service similar to Google.

There is a tab that receives priority emails (such as addresses of family members), and another tab for secondary messages. In other words, the “main” and “other” folders.

The problem is that the Outlook filter, as well as not meeting expectations in terms of containing spam, doesn’t track messages directed to the priority box very well, and this has been another reason for user dissatisfaction.

Outlook spam: what Microsoft says

Whenever there are mass complaints, Microsoft constantly declares that “everything is working fine” on its Office services integrity page.

However, the company always asks dissatisfied users to contact support, without revealing any further details about possible measures to be taken.

Outlook spam: an old problem

Spam in Outlook is a persistent complaint. In recent years, 2021 was a peak time for complaints from many users, who said they received a large number of unauthorized messages in their inboxes.

As early as 2023, user complaints caused Outlook to grind to a halt, which in turn caused damage to other Microsoft services.

Conclusion

If you use this Microsoft tool, we recommend that you do so from your desktop. This minimizes the problem of Outlook spam.

Mobile users don’t have access to the filter that prevents unwanted emails from arriving. In addition, the application does not offer access to Office, making life difficult for those who need to read Word or Excel documents.

A third problem that users complain about is the routing of messages to the priority and secondary email folders. Outlook doesn’t always get this right.

In short, Outlook users who need its functionality on a day-to-day basis should prepare themselves for the various problems the system causes.

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