How to Prevent Spam From Being Sent From My Address

By reporting any spam messages sent to you, you are helping to keep the email community safe for yourself and others.

Spam is junk mail that is delivered to your email address. Most of the time spam messages are automatically filtered into your "Spam" or "Junk" folder. However, spam messages may occasionally land in your inbox. While there is no physical way to prevent spam messages from being sent to your email address, you can report these messages as you receive them. In fact, email providers such as Hotmail, Yahoo! and Gmail encourage you to report any unsolicited messages that you find in your inbox so they can continue to provide a safe email server and community for users.

Instructions

1. Log in to your email account.

2. Browse your inbox for new messages. Default settings generally organize the newest messages to appear at the top.

3. Click on any message that you believe is spam. In Yahoo!, Hotmail and Gmail--or if you have your email forwarded to Outlook or Outlook Express--you can hold down your mouse and drag the spam message into the "Spam" or "Junk" folder. Or, if you prefer, you can checkmark the spam message, select "Move to," and click on "Spam" (for Yahoo! and Gmail) and "Junk" (for Hotmail).

Tips & Warnings

• Both Hotmail and Gmail have a "Report Spam" button. After you log in to your email account, checkmark the spam message appearing in your inbox and click on the "Report Spam" button.

• Just as email providers do not catch every single spam message, occasionally legitimate messages get filtered into your "Junk" folder. For example, if someone is emailing you for the very first time and your email server doesn't recognize the email address, the server automatically protects your safety by placing the message in your "Spam" folder. As a precaution, you may want to check your "Spam" folder regularly to make sure you are receiving all your messages.

References

• Hotmail: How to report Abuse or Spam in Windows Live Hotmail
• Yahoo! Help: "How do I report spam?"
• Gmail: Removing spam

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• Gmail: Reporting Gmail Spam