How to stop scam emails from arriving

To stop scam emails, do two things at once: get the next ones filtered before you see them, and never give a scammer a sign that your address works. Report each scam as phishing so your provider's filter learns. Block the whole domain, not one address. Don't reply, don't click unsubscribe, and don't load a scam's images. Then add a check that runs on every email, so you don't have to spot each scam yourself. With iCloud, Gmail or Outlook, Alrighty does that check on your computer and keeps a scam sender's new mail out without ever contacting them.

Most pages for this search teach you to spot a scam: odd sender, urgent tone, a link that doesn't match. That helps with the email in front of you. It doesn't stop the next fifty. They also skip the trap in the usual advice: several "fixes," such as unsubscribing or opening the email to check it, tell the scammer a real person reads this address, and the stream gets worse. This page lists eight ways, says which ones stop the stream, and says which ones send anything back to the sender.

To check one suspicious email, see our phishing email checker guide. For newsletters and marketing you signed up for, see how to stop spam emails.

How we checked

We read each provider's and each tool's own help, feature and privacy pages on November 4, 2026, and every fact about another product links to its source. Where a page didn't say something, such as a price, we say so instead of guessing. We didn't run scam mail through any tool. Alrighty is our app, and it is listed first.

Which ways stop scam emails, and which tell the scammer

Way	Tools	Stops future scams	Sends anything back to the scammer	Cost
A check on every email, plus Stop mail	Alrighty	Yes, sure phishing goes to Junk	No, it unsubscribes only from senders that passed DMARC	14-day trial, then Free or Pro
Report as phishing	Gmail, Outlook.com, iCloud	Trains your provider's filter	No	Free
Don't answer in any way	You, plus image settings in Gmail and Mail	Keeps your address from looking live	Only if you reply, click or load images	Free
Block the domain	Outlook.com, Gmail filters, Apple Mail rules	Yes, for that domain	No	Free
Let in only senders you trust	Outlook on the web, Clean Email Screener	Yes, holds every stranger	No	Free in Outlook; Clean Email is paid
A scanner on your mailbox	Norton Safe Email, Microsoft 365 for Outlook.com	Flags or removes dangerous mail	No	Paid
Find the leak and lock your accounts	Have I Been Pwned, 2-step sign-in	Limits the harm, not the mail	No	Free
Report to the authorities	FTC, NCSC	Helps take scams down	No	Free

Phishing checks and Stop mail in Alrighty: best for stopping scams

Alrighty is a mail app for Mac, Windows and Linux that puts iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts in one inbox. Your provider's filter still runs first. Alrighty works on the scams that get past it, without you having to spot them.

• Phishing checks. Alrighty checks new Inbox mail as it arrives. A message that is sure to be phishing goes to Junk before you see it. A likely one stays in your Inbox with a warning in the message. The check runs on your computer, with no server call. Our phishing checker guide lists the signs it looks for.
• Stop mail, without a reply to the scammer. One action on a sender archives their mail and moves their new mail out as it arrives. Stop mail unsubscribes only from senders whose mail passed DMARC, the check that a message really comes from the domain it names, and wasn't marked spam, so a scammer never learns your address is live.
• Clean up. It lists the senders you probably don't want, scams included, so you can stop them all at once.
• Filters. Scams often come from a new address every time, which a block can't catch. A filter stops a kind of mail instead of one sender. Describe it in your own words, or set rules, and new Inbox mail that fits moves to Archive before the list shows it. Mail from people you've written to is never moved.

Where your mail goes. Your mail stays with iCloud, Google or Microsoft, and Alrighty keeps its copy on your computer. The phishing check and rule filters run on your computer. A filter you describe in words asks an AI model through Alrighty's server, signed in only. Clean up sends each sender's address, three facts the receiving server found, and up to 3 of their newest emails (2,000 characters each) to Alrighty's server to sort them.

Images. Alrighty loads remote images on its own, through a proxy with no cookies, so the sender never sees your computer's address. A tracking pixel can still show that the email was opened. There's no setting to block images.

Price. A 14-day trial with no card, then a Free plan or Pro.

What it can't do. There's no iPhone or web app, so the check doesn't screen mail on your phone. It takes iCloud, Gmail and Outlook accounts only, not Yahoo, AOL or other IMAP. It has no calendar, and it's new, with no long track record.

Pick it if you read mail on a computer and want scams caught and kept out without checking each one yourself.

Report it as phishing: best for teaching your provider's filter

Your provider filters mail on its servers before any app sees it, so a report there helps on every device. Report a scam as phishing, not only as spam, when it pretends to be a company or asks for a password or payment.

• Gmail. Open the message, click More next to Reply, then Report phishing. Google says "Gmail is designed to help protect your account by automatically identifying phishing emails," and "When we identify that an email may be phishing or suspicious, we might show a warning or move the email to Spam" (Google).
• Outlook.com. Select the message, then "Above the reading pane, select Report > Report phishing to report the message sender." Microsoft adds that "the sender is reported but is not blocked from sending you additional messages" (Microsoft). So block the domain too, as below.
• iCloud Mail. Move it to Junk. Forward fake Apple emails to Apple, as our phishing checker guide explains.

What it can't do. A report trains one account's filter. With three accounts, you report in three places. The scam you reported is gone, but the next one may come from a fresh domain.

Pick it if you get a scam in Gmail, Outlook.com or iCloud. Do this for every one.

Don't answer it in any way: best for not making it worse

A scammer sends to millions of addresses and wants to know which ones work. Any answer tells them yours does, and a confirmed address is worth more to them.

• Don't reply, not even "stop."
• Don't click unsubscribe in a scam. A real company honors it. A scammer reads the click as a sign of life, or sends you to a fake page.
• Don't load its images. A remote image can tell the sender when you opened the email.

You can turn the image part into a setting:

• Gmail. Click Settings, See all settings, scroll to Images, choose Ask before displaying external images, and click Save Changes. Google says it scans images first, so "Senders can't use image loading to get information about your computer or location." It also says "Sometimes, senders may know whether you've opened an email that has an image" (Google). If Gmail thinks a message is suspicious, it asks before it shows images anyway.
• Apple Mail. Choose Mail, Settings, click Privacy, and select Protect Mail Activity. Then "your IP address is hidden from senders and remote content is privately downloaded in the background when you receive a message (instead of when you view it)." If you turn it off, you can choose Block All Remote Content instead (Apple).

What it can't do. Silence keeps the stream from growing. It doesn't shrink it. Pair it with a block or a filter.

Pick it if you get scams at all. This costs nothing and protects every other way on this page.

Block the domain, not the address: best for one scam source that keeps coming back

Blocking one address rarely stops a scam, because the next email comes from a new address on the same domain. Block the domain instead.

• Outlook.com. Open Settings, Mail, Junk email, select Blocked senders and domains, then Add blocked sender. Microsoft says to "enter the domain name" if "you want to block all email from a domain" (Microsoft). Blocked mail goes to Junk, and "Junk email is retained for 30 days before it is automatically deleted and is not recoverable."
• Gmail. Gmail's Block works on one address. For a domain, create a filter on the From field and send matches to Trash. The steps are in how to block a sender in Gmail, Outlook and Apple Mail.
• Apple Mail. Block Sender covers one address. A rule can match a domain.

What it can't do. Never block a domain that real people use, such as gmail.com or outlook.com. Many scams send from free accounts, and a domain block can't stop those. A block also moves mail after it arrives, so the scammer doesn't know.

Pick it if the scams share a domain that only the scammer uses.

Let in only senders you trust: best for an inbox you can't afford to get wrong

The strictest way is to stop judging strangers and hold all of them. This works well for an address that gets few new contacts, such as a parent's account or a work address that's been targeted.

• Outlook on the web. The junk settings have a Filters section with Only trust email from addresses in my Safe senders and domains list and Safe mailing lists (Microsoft). Everyone else goes to Junk. Add the people you know to Safe senders and domains first.
• Clean Email Screener. It "intercepts messages from new senders and safely holds them in quarantine for your review." You choose whether it holds mailing lists, automated messages, or "Real humans emailing you for the first time," then allow or block each sender (Clean Email). It works with any mail app, because it connects to your mailbox and works "in the cloud" (plans). Its plans page showed no prices when we read it.

What it can't do. You must approve every new sender, including a real delivery notice or a new doctor's office. With Clean Email, one more company has access to your mailbox.

Pick it if a missed real email costs less than one scam that gets through.

Add a scanner on your mailbox: best for scams that reach your phone too

A scanner connects to your account and checks every email in the cloud, so it works in any app and on any device.

• Norton Safe Email "helps to protect up to five of your email addresses against phishing emails and malicious attachments. Working in the cloud, it flags emails as safe or potentially suspicious before you open them" (Norton). Its provider list names Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com, Office 365 and Apple iCloud, among others (providers). Its feature page doesn't give a price.
• Microsoft 365 Personal and Family add screening to Outlook.com. "Outlook.com scans the attachments for viruses and malware," removes a dangerous file, and checks "whether the links are related to phishing scams." It works "no matter how you access your email," but only for Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live and MSN addresses (Microsoft).

What it can't do. A flag still leaves the email in your inbox. Norton's servers read your mail to check it. Microsoft's extra checks don't cover a Gmail account you added to Outlook.

Pick it if you read the same mailbox on several devices and want a check that follows you. Outlook users can compare more options in our Outlook spam filter guide.

Find the leak and lock your accounts: best for a sudden wave of scams

A sudden rise in scams usually means your address leaked in a data breach. You can't take it back, but you can check what leaked and make it useless.

• Have I Been Pwned. Enter your address to "Check if your email address is in a data breach," and sign up to "Get notified when your email appears in future data breaches" (Have I Been Pwned). Its FAQ calls it a free service.
• Change reused passwords. If a breached site had your password, change it there and anywhere you used the same one.
• Turn on 2-step sign-in. Google says "With 2-Step Verification, you add an extra layer of security to your account in case your password is stolen" (Google).
• Use aliases next time. A different address for each site shows who leaked it. Our spam guide compares Hide My Email, SimpleLogin and Firefox Relay.

What it can't do. None of this removes your address from scam lists. It makes a successful scam less likely, and it shows you where the leak came from.

Pick it if scams started all at once, or they quote an old password or order.

Report it to the authorities: best for helping take scams down

A report to a government agency won't clear your inbox, but it feeds the work that shuts scam sites down.

• In the UK, forward the email to the National Cyber Security Centre's report address. It says "Forward us as many suspicious emails as you like," and "You don't need to forward us suspicious emails you find in your spam/junk folder" (NCSC).
• In the US, the FTC's guide to phishing scams says to forward phishing email to the Anti-Phishing Working Group and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

Pick it if you lost money or shared details. Then also call your bank, and change the password you typed.

How to choose

• iCloud, Gmail or Outlook, scams caught and kept out without a reply to the scammer: Alrighty.
• Every scam, in any account: report it as phishing.
• Every time, whatever else you do: don't reply, click unsubscribe or load images.
• Scams from one domain: block the domain in Outlook.com, or filter it in Gmail.
• An inbox that must never let a scam in: Outlook's safe-senders-only setting, or Clean Email's Screener.
• A check that follows you to your phone: Norton Safe Email, or Microsoft 365 for Outlook.com.
• A sudden flood: check Have I Been Pwned and change reused passwords.
• You lost money: call your bank, then report to the FTC or NCSC.

Questions

Why do I keep getting scam emails?

Your address is on lists that scammers buy and share, usually after a data breach. Each reply, unsubscribe click or loaded image can mark it as active, which brings more. Report each one as phishing, block shared domains, and stop giving any sign that the address works.

Is it safe to click unsubscribe in a scam email?

No. In a scam, the link confirms that a person reads the address, or leads to a fake page. Report the email as phishing or junk instead. Alrighty's Stop mail unsubscribes only from senders whose mail passed DMARC and wasn't marked spam, so a scammer never learns your address is live.

Can I stop scam emails completely?

No. Scammers change addresses and domains faster than any block list. You can stop most of them: your provider's filter catches the bulk, a check on every email catches more, and a domain block or a filter handles the ones that repeat.

Does opening a scam email put me at risk?

Opening one is rarely harmful by itself, but its images can tell the sender you opened it. The danger is in the link, the attachment and the reply. Turn off remote images, and never type a password on a page an email took you to.

Does reporting a scam email block the sender?

Not always. Microsoft says a sender you report as phishing "is reported but is not blocked from sending you additional messages." Block the domain as well, or use a tool that keeps their new mail out.