How to Block Spam Emails on Gmail + 12 Proven Tips for a Clean Inbox
You check your Gmail account only to see it buried under an avalanche of spam emails. You manage to locate a couple of important messages, but the constant onslaught of junk mail is overwhelming. Email management becomes a hassle as you struggle to maintain a clean and organized inbox, but with the amount of spam you’re receiving, you can hardly find messages that are important to you. There’s good reason to be frustrated. Spam emails don’t just clutter your inbox. They’re annoying, time-consuming, and can even be dangerous. The good news is there are easy and effective ways to block spam emails on Gmail. In this article, we’ll explore how to block spam emails on Gmail, so you can maintain a consistently clean and organized inbox.
One valuable tool to help you achieve your goal is Inbox Zapper's Gmail cleanup tool. In addition to easily blocking spam emails, it enables you to apply simple, effective strategies to prevent unwanted messages that can overwhelm your inbox.
What is a Spam Email?
Spam email is unsolicited, and unwanted junk email is sent out in bulk to an indiscriminate recipient list. These emails often include advertisements, promotions, or scams and can mess up your inbox, making it harder to find important messages. Spam mail can also sometimes contain harmful links or attachments. Typically, spam is sent for commercial purposes. It can be sent in massive volumes by botnets and networks of infected computers.
One hundred sixty billion spam emails are sent daily, with 46% of the 347 billion emails sent considered spam (numbers recorded for 2023). Most people (96.8%) have received spam messages in some form. The U.S. sends the most spam emails, with 8 billion per day on average, followed by China, with 7.6 billion daily. The most common topic of spam emails is prizes and giveaways, followed by job opportunities and banking. Over two-thirds (68.8%) of people who had received spam and/or phishing messages reported their mental health being impacted at least a little as a result.
Spoofing and Phishing: How Spammers Get Their Money
Spammers are smart and cunning individuals. While their methods may differ, their goals are all related to economic gain. They want to get their hands on your money. To do this, spammers have resorted to tactics like phishing and spoofing. While these sound like weird terms, they've been coined in the cybersecurity industry to describe very serious and effective criminal activities that leave victims devastated.
What Is Spoofing?
Spoofing is when cybercriminals create almost perfect copies of corporate emails. The goal is to trick such as opening an unknown file that appears to be from a trusted source, into performing certain actions, such as:
- Business owners
- Employees
- Other stakeholders
The file, however, contains malware that could be designed to do anything, from:
- Installing itself on the user's computer to track keystrokes
- Steal intellectual property
- Encrypt access to the user's computer, holding it ransom for a fee.
What is Phishing?
Phishing is a kind of spoofing. Like spoofing, spammers create convincing lookalikes of emails and email addresses. Unlike spoofing, phishing scams are designed to lead unwitting victims to websites that look trustworthy to enter sensitive information, such as:
- Social security numbers
- Credit cards
- Online banking credentials
Phishing and spoofing aside, keeping up with what's spam and what isn't can be a challenge, especially for someone with busy days. This is why these features were built into email clients and providers, such as:
- Spam folders
- Filters
- Other helpful features
Common Spam Email Security Threats
Spam emails are annoying enough, but some of them can put your digital safety at risk. Some spam messages contain:
- Viruses
- Malware
- Other cyberthreats
Here are a few to watch for:
Trojan Horses
Trojan horses come disguised as a legitimate program. Even if you think you know how to verify whether an email is legitimate, a trojan horse uses deception to get past those defense mechanisms. For instance, they can hide inside free software downloads or arrive as an email attachment, possibly from someone you know.
When you open the email, the trojan installs malicious code — typically spyware or viruses — designed to create problems on your computer. Trojans may allow an attacker to:
- Control your computer
- Lock you out
- Steal your data
- Account information
- Email addresses
Zombies
Zombies are a type of malware that also comes in email attachments. They turn your computer into a server and send spam to other computers. You may not know your computer is compromised, but it may slow down considerably or drain the battery quickly. Meanwhile, your computer may send out spam or attack web pages. One way to avoid zombies is to avoid opening attachments or clicking links in emails from your spam folder.
Phishing and Vishers
Phishing emails often try to mimic messages from legitimate financial companies or other businesses you may use. The spam phishing email will ask you to visit a fraudulent or spoofed website to re-enter your credit card number or verify your password. It’s a scheme to capture that personal information.
Vishers will try to have you call them to provide your personal information. Remember that reputable businesses wouldn’t make such requests by email or phone. Perform a Google search on the company to verify legitimacy to avoid phishing scams. For vishers, if you don't recognize the number, let the caller leave a voicemail message. Local or not, only respond to calls in your phone book.
Lottery Scams and Fake Offers
Cyber thieves sometimes use old-school scams that seem legitimate but are fake offers. These play on your desires or good nature: you've won much money, or someone urgently needs your help. In reality, you haven’t won a lottery or a cruise worldwide. And you haven’t been selected by a foreign prince to receive $10 million, in exchange for using your bank account number. Look for phrases of urgency like, “immediate,” and “act now” in the email’s title to avoid lottery scams and fake offers. Refer back to the Delete Emails section of this post for additional characteristics to look for.
Related Reading
- How to Unsubscribe from Emails
- How to Unsubscribe from Emails on Gmail
- How to See List of Email Subscriptions on Gmail
How to Block Spam Emails on Gmail
Mastering Gmail Filters to Block Spam Emails
Gmail filters make handling unwanted emails easy. The goal is to automatically sort emails into designated categories without dealing with them every time they arrive manually. Regarding spam, you can set up a filter that archives, deletes, or labels any future responses based on your criteria. Here's how to create a Gmail filter to block spam.
Open Gmail Filter Options
- From within your Gmail account, in the search bar, click the down arrow.
- Enter your search criteria. To confirm that your search was successful, scan the emails that show up by clicking Search.
- At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
Choose How to Handle the Spam
- Choose what action you'd like your new filter to perform.
- Click Create filter. When you create a filter to forward messages, the filter will apply to all new messages received.
When creating the filter, you can optionally apply it to existing messages in your inbox by checking the box next to: Also apply filter to matching conversations. This can significantly help prevent you from manually handling large numbers of existing emails.
Understand How Gmail Filters Work
When someone replies to a message I've already filtered, their reply will only be filtered if it meets the same search criteria. You can also create unique filters for specific messages.
- To do this, click on an email you don't want to receive anymore.
- Click on the more button (with three vertical dots).
- Select the Filter messages like these option.
- Enter or edit your filter criteria.
- Click Create filter.
- Use the checkboxes to assign an action for your new filter.
- Click Create filter again.
Are Filters the Answer?
Knowing how to use filters effectively can save much time for legitimate email. But when it comes to spam, filters don't work so well. There are several reasons, one of which is the amount of clicks needed to create a simple filter.
Using Labels
A Gmail label is a tag you can add to any email you receive or send (including drafts). Designed to keep my inbox organized, labels act like the folders you'd have in Outlook or any other email application. Labels are more flexible than folders as you can assign multiple labels to an email, where you can only place an email in one folder with other email providers.
While labels were designed to help organize my inbox, there are better options than these when managing spam. I'd still be receiving emails that could contain malicious content. I also collect them in bucket loads using my limited Gmail storage.
Archiving Emails
Archiving emails is a quick and easy way to clean out my inbox, but unfortunately, using the archive functionality doesn't effectively deal with spam. I'd still receive it along with the malicious content it includes. If it's not in my inbox, does it matter that it's in my archive? Great question! As most Gmail users know, Gmail sometimes doesn't structure email correspondence in the order it is received.
This can lead to me going into my All Mail folder to see if I can remember or spot the email I'm looking for. As you'd imagine, this is where your spam will show up. The same applies to using labels to manage my spam. If I search for an email, all of my archived spam emails could also appear in the search results, thus continuing to clutter my email account. Why keep it if I don't want it in the first place?
Deleting Email
Deleting spam when it arrives is a quick and effective solution; honestly, it's likely the most effective way. The only challenge is that I'll constantly create filters to delete all kinds of emails.
Marking Email as Spam
Marking emails as spam is useful as it helps teach Gmail what emails I consider spam. This feature applies a filter that removes all future emails based on the sender's email address. The challenge? What if my sender uses a different email address from the same domain? Google says it will automatically block similar emails as spam. However, many inevitably get through with this method as it's difficult for Google to truly identify similar emails.
Another challenge with this feature is that it could assign legitimate emails to my spam folder. It's not uncommon to want emails from my sales rep or account manager but not their newsletter, for example. Despite my numerous attempts and requests to be removed from their list, they continue to send the newsletter.
Unsubscribing
While not a Gmail feature per se, manually unsubscribing from emails can work in certain cases. But when it comes to malicious spam, the option is ineffective. The probability that I'll continue to receive spam will remain high, especially considering that I'll confirm with the spammer that my email address is active. In many cases, this will actually result in more spam being sent to my email.
How to Block Emails on Gmail from a Desktop
Everyone has that one distant relative who sends you random, mildly offensive emails on the daily. Looking at you, Great Uncle Jack. If I want to stop receiving their messages altogether, here's how to block their emails on Gmail so they'll automatically be filtered into my spam folder.
- Open a message from someone you want to block.
- Click the three vertical dots next to the reply button in the top-right corner of the message.
- Click Block "[sender's name]" from the dropdown menu.
- A pop-up box will show up. Click Block.
You've officially blocked the sender, and all future messages from them will be sent directly to your spam folder. Your current messages from the sender will not be moved unless you manually move them to my spam folder or execute a mass delete campaign.
How to Block Emails on Gmail Using the App
If inspiration strikes to go on a blocking spree, but I don't want to get up and walk five feet to my computer, here's how to block emails on the Gmail app (the process is the same for iPhone and Android users). The steps are essentially the same as they are on desktop—it just looks a bit different on the app.
- Open a message from someone you want to block.
- Tap the three horizontal dots next to the reply button in the top-right corner of the message.
- Tap Block "[sender]".
How to Report Spam on Gmail
When I report something as spam, the message will be moved into my spam folder, and a copy will be sent to Google so they can better filter out similar emails in the future—but I may still receive emails from that sender. The only way to guarantee I don't see any of their future messages is to block them. Here's how to stop spam emails in their tracks.
How to Report Spam on Gmail from a Desktop
- Open a spam email.
- Click the Report Spam icon (an octagon with an exclamation point) on the top right of the email.
- The message will then be sent to my spam folder (see ya never!).
How to Report Spam on the Gmail App
- Open a spam email.
- Tap the three horizontal dots in the top-right corner.
- Tap Report spam.
How to Report Phishing on Gmail
While spam is simply unwanted content, phishing is an online attacker pretending to be a trusted sender. Here's how to report phishing if someone emails me impersonating someone else.
- Open a phishing email.
- Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the message.
- Click Report phishing.
- Click the option to Report Phishing Message in the pop-up box that appears.
How to Automatically Delete Emails from a Sender Without Opening Them
There's nothing creepier than an "I saw you opened my message—why no reply?" email. Plus, some emails scream "open me for a virus." To delete emails without clicking on them, follow these steps:
- Hover over the sender's name.
- Copy the email address.
- Click the Settings button (gear in the top-right corner).
- Click See all settings.
- Click the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.
- Click Create a new filter.
- Paste the address in the From field.
- Click Create filter.
- Check the Delete it box.
- Click Create filter.
Now all future messages from this sender will go directly to my trash folder.
How to Unsubscribe from Emails on Gmail
If you're like me, you've subscribed to countless marketing emails to get a promo code… only to never shop there again. Instead of scrolling to the bottom of an email to find the likely very tiny unsubscribe option, Gmail gives you an easy way to do it from the top of the message.
Note that unsubscribing differs from blocking or reporting spam since I don't think the messages are dangerous—I just don't want to receive them anymore.
- Open an email from a sender I want to unsubscribe from.
- Next to the sender's name, click Unsubscribe.
It may take a few days for the emails to stop. And if this link doesn't show up next to the sender's name, I'll still have to do it the old-fashioned way and scroll to the bottom.
The Importance of Privacy in Email Cleanup Tools: How Inbox Zapper Protects Your Data
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Inbox Zapper key features:
- From day one, it was designed with privacy in mind.
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Related Reading
- How to Manage Email Subscriptions on Gmail
- Best Email Cleaner
- Auto Unsubscribe Gmail
- App to Unsubscribe from Emails
12 Proven Tips for a Spam-Free Inbox
1. Block spam email addresses in your email client
Blocking an email address ensures that any future unsolicited messages from that sender will be sent to your junk or spam folder. This won’t be particularly useful in blocking future spam since spammers quickly move on to new email addresses. It will give your email provider helpful information that they can use to improve their email filters.
What to do:
Without opening the email, report and block the spam email address
2. Use an email alias when signing up for new accounts
Email aliases help you keep your identity anonymous and protect your email privacy. You can use generic email addresses to sign up for websites and mailing lists while preventing sites from knowing your email address. Whenever an email is sent to the alias, you receive it in a separate section of your main email inbox. This lets you easily manage your inbox and block unsolicited senders.
What to do:
- Set up an email alias using your email service, if it’s supported (Gmail is one service that allows you to create email aliases).
- Use an identity theft protection service that also masks your primary email from scammers.
3. Report suspicious emails as spam (without opening them)
Removing spam emails manually is time-consuming and won’t prevent that address from sending you more junk. Reporting unwanted messages to your service provider will help the provider block and filter spam more effectively.
What to do:
Report every unwanted email as a spam or phishing email
4. Remove your email address from data broker lists
Data broker sites buy and compile internet user data and sell it to companies and scammers so that they can target you with their content. Removing your email from these lists means that fewer people can get their hands on it, reducing the amount of spam that you receive.
What to do:
- Opt out of each data broker company.
- To do so, you need to find out what information they have about you (if any).
- With that in hand, navigate to their opt-out page and submit your request, citing my profile.
- This is a drawn-out process, as the brokers list is overwhelmingly long.
5. Learn how to spot the signs of a phishing email
Phishing emails are becoming increasingly sophisticated; and, as a result, they’re becoming harder to identify. But there are some common signs (and rules of thumb) that you can use to spot and avoid phishing emails.
What to do:
- Look for the warning signs of a phishing email. This includes:some text
- Emails from unknown senders
- Spelling and grammatical errors in the subject line and body
- Requests for personal information
- Never click on links or download attachments in emails unless you’re 100% sure it’s from someone I trust. Never provide personal information or reply to spam emails.
6. Unsubscribe from unwanted mailing lists
Endless marketing newsletters and advertisements can quickly become annoying. If these come from legitimate companies you signed up for (perhaps when purchasing in the past), you can easily unsubscribe to prevent future emails and free up your inbox.
What to do:
- Unsubscribe from legitimate mailing list subscriptions by going to the company’s website (rather than clicking the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email).
- This protects me from fraudulent phishing emails containing malicious and fake unsubscribe links.
- If it’s a spam email (and I don’t recognize the sender), I’m better off reporting it as spam and deleting the email. Any interaction I have with the spammer will let them know that I’m a prospect with an active email account.
7. Turn off “auto-load” for images
When “auto-load” is turned on, images are downloaded automatically, providing information to spammers. Most major email service providers provide a feature that blocks automatic picture downloads and other external content.
What to do:
- I'll check whether your service allows me to turn off “auto-load” for images and enable it if I can.
- Some services like Outlook have this turned on by default.
8. Scan the Dark Web for your email and passwords
You can check if your data has been leaked to hackers during a data breach. If my account credentials have been leaked on the Dark Web, I can secure them.
What to do:
I will use a Dark Web scanner to check if my credentials are circulating on the Dark Web. I can also check the status of my personal data by using HaveIBeenPwned. If I find out that my account information has been leaked, I’ll immediately update my passwords for all compromised accounts (it’s also a good idea to update my other passwords to be safe).
9. Stop giving your email address to websites
Whether I’m signing up for newsletters or joining a new social media site, posting your email address online comes with inherent risks. Not only am I opening my email up for a barrage of spam, but a data breach could happen at any time — giving scammers the information they need to hack or impersonate me.
What to do:
- Remove my primary email from my social media profiles.
- Create a secondary “burner” email account (or email alias) to use when necessary (such as when signing up for a new service or placing an online shopping order).
- Remove my email address from my website (if I have one).
10. Start fresh with new email accounts
If my email account is inundated with spam, the best option might be to start over again. With a little work, I can switch all of my significant accounts (financial, government, etc.) to a new email address and enjoy peace of mind.
What to do: Create a new email address and limit when and where I share it. Use an email service with a more rigorous spam filter.
11. Use a third-party spam filter
My email service provider may have its filter, but pairing it with a third-party spam filter can provide an additional layer of cybersecurity. The emails will travel through two spam filters to reach my inbox. So if it gets through one spam filter, the other should catch it. Effective spam filters can protect my devices against:
- Malware threats
- Phishing attacks
- Undesirable content.
Look for an anti-spam filter that works with my email provider and addresses my needs.
12. Protect your devices with antivirus software
While an antivirus won’t stop me from receiving spam, it will protect me if I accidentally click on a link or download a malicious file.
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