Increase in Gmail spam?

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Post Reply
Topic Author
02nz
Posts: 10510
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:17 pm

Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by 02nz »

Longtime Gmail user, in the past 3-4 months I've noticed a massive uptick in spam that makes it through the spam filter. It used to be that virtually no spam would make it through to my inbox, but now several messages daily (many posing as Costco, Lowe's, Home Depot, or others, but definitely spam, not commercial email from those companies) are getting through. Sending them to the spam folder doesn't seem to improve things for the future.

Related or not, I've also noticed a significant increase in spam/scam calls in the same time period.

Have others noticed the same? Any informed speculation as to possible reasons?
jebmke
Posts: 25476
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:44 pm
Location: Delmarva Peninsula

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by jebmke »

No but I also have a Yahoo account and I am seeing a lot there. I don't use my GMail account for anything commercial so it could be that.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
livesoft
Posts: 86079
Joined: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:00 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by livesoft »

Have not noticed. Some places like AARP felt they needed to send me lots of stuff, but Unsubscribe works.
Wiki This signature message sponsored by sscritic: Learn to fish.
abner kravitz
Posts: 1024
Joined: Tue May 05, 2015 7:42 am
Location: East Coast

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by abner kravitz »

I was getting more spam than usual in my gmail account a few months back, but it seems to have corrected itself. My spam folder gets a ton, I don’t ever look in there anymore.
Walkure
Posts: 1023
Joined: Tue Apr 11, 2017 9:59 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Walkure »

abner kravitz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:16 pm I was getting more spam than usual in my gmail account a few months back, but it seems to have corrected itself. My spam folder gets a ton, I don’t ever look in there anymore.
Yeah, a few months back was absolutely insane, like 50 emails a day in my spam folder. Probably nuisance traffic coinciding with the Russia/Ukraine conflict. That has mostly subsided now, but the random one or two obvious spam showing up in the main inbox has definitely been a thing lately. I assume they'll fix it within a couple of weeks.
User avatar
retiredjg
Posts: 54082
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:56 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by retiredjg »

Hardly getting any myself. Eight in June.
User avatar
HueyLD
Posts: 9790
Joined: Mon Jan 14, 2008 9:30 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by HueyLD »

I have also started receiving a lot of junk mails in my gmail accounts. I even identified many of them as junk but they keep showing up in my inbox instead of the Junk box.

Somehow, gmail has become as easy to spam as hotmail. Sigh…
hi_there
Posts: 1182
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2020 7:00 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by hi_there »

Not Gmail, but I seem to be getting more spam/phishing looking text messages. Someone sold me out!
Trapper
Posts: 297
Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:38 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Trapper »

I have noticed the same pattern for about 3-4 months with my yahoo email account. Dramatic increase in spam emails landing in my inbox.
12-20 spam emails a day. Identifying them as spam has not cut down the number of spam emails.
User avatar
JoeRetire
Posts: 15381
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2018 1:44 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by JoeRetire »

02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Have others noticed the same?
No. I get virtually no spam finding it's way past my Gmail spam filter. No changes at all.

Have you declared any mail as "not spam" recently?
Have you signed up using your email on some new sites recently?
This isn't just my wallet. It's an organizer, a memory and an old friend.
Broken Man 1999
Posts: 8626
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 11:31 am
Location: West coast of Florida, near Champa Bay !

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

I spent a lot of time clearing out my spam emails, unsubscribing from legit companies who actually unsubscribe you, and blocking the creeps who are obvious sleazy spammers.

I did the same thing for my USPS mail, taking myself off of catalog mailings, and other unwanted physical mail.

It takes some time at first, but once it has been done the occasional email or physical mailpiece can be handled easier than when you get a lot of emails all the time.

Broken Man 1999
“If I cannot drink Bourbon and smoke cigars in Heaven then I shall not go." - Mark Twain
User avatar
Halfvolley
Posts: 59
Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2016 6:41 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Halfvolley »

02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm
Have others noticed the same?
Yes
02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Any informed speculation as to possible reasons?
No
senex
Posts: 1087
Joined: Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:38 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by senex »

I've noticed the exact same, last couple months, several a day into my regular inbox, mostly posing as big-box stores (Home Depot etc).

Unsure of cause or solution. I mark each one as spam, and hope Google will learn.
mary1492
Posts: 716
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:02 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by mary1492 »

.....
Last edited by mary1492 on Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
shess
Posts: 2164
Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 12:02 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by shess »

02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Have others noticed the same? Any informed speculation as to possible reasons?
I have noticed both an increase in obvious spam in my inbox, and an apparent increase in mis-labelled ham in my spam folder. It wouldn't be so annoying except that often the inbox spam is SO OBVIOUS, and some of the emails mis-marked as spam have been people I have conversed with dozens or hundreds of times over the years. It's annoying to be working on a project with someone over many months, and realize that they weren't ignoring you for the past week, Gmail just suddenly decided to route an email in the middle of a thread to spam.

My suspicion as to why is that spam is basically solved, so people working on spam are having to ramp up their signal amplification to extreme levels to appear to make continued progress. Unfortunately, at some point you just really can't make your machine-learning models better by trying harder, they just start making more mistakes. The only real brake on this process comes from evaluating the results, but most people don't look in their spam folders to signal mis-labelled ham, and a lot of people just archive (or ignore) spam in their inbox rather than labelling it as spam.

We've also noticed some problems on Google Groups where emails from some people just seem to disappear, sometimes. Our suspicion is overly-sensitive spam filters.
DetroitRick
Posts: 1488
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2016 9:28 am
Location: SE Michigan

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by DetroitRick »

Yes. I've noticed a huge uptick in spam (only to my Gmail account, not to my other emails). 85% of it still caught by spam filters, maybe 15% getting through (usually it's near 0). Started two weeks ago, last encountered two days ago (so maybe it's over, maybe not). At it's worst, I was getting about 6 per day (less than 1 would be normal for me).

In my case it's mostly "bills" or "payment notices" for services and subscriptions. Often falsely claiming to be from Norton, which I have not had in years. Other fake vendors too. All from fictitious (per header) addresses. Sloppy English, dumb messages, mostly with attachments (which of course I don't open). I've continued to report spam on ones that get through filters. Now, last two days, nothing at all - not even in spam folder. Time will tell. Usually my gmail spam filter handles all of it. This was pretty unusual, actually. I'm not worried, it's just a petty nuisance.

But no uptick in spam calls or texts. Only a few per month, consistently. No landline, just Pixel phone on T-Mobile. Same with wife.
crumbgrabber
Posts: 151
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2010 7:28 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by crumbgrabber »

Tons of super obvious spam for me too, over the last year or so. Seems to come in bursts. Honestly it’s making me migrate to my other email addresses.
Cecelio
Posts: 176
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2021 10:19 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Cecelio »

02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm
Have others noticed the same?
No. Everything is normal for my gmail.
User avatar
AerialWombat
Posts: 3107
Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 1:07 pm
Location: Cashtown, Cashylvania

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by AerialWombat »

deleted
Last edited by AerialWombat on Thu Aug 25, 2022 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
This post is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real financial advice is purely coincidental.
otinkyad
Posts: 486
Joined: Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:35 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by otinkyad »

No change for me in the overall volume of spam, or the number of false positives (a few a month, rarely anything interesting) or false negatives (still very rare, and most commonly due to my own filters), across several Google email addresses.
Topic Author
02nz
Posts: 10510
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:17 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by 02nz »

Interesting, quite a few others seem to be seeing similar things. I guess there's not much we can do but send the actual spam to the spam folder, and hope that big data / AI / whatever they got in Mountain View catches up.
NYCaviator
Posts: 1967
Joined: Sat Apr 09, 2016 5:06 pm
Location: NYC

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by NYCaviator »

I've seen a HUGE increase in spam in my Gmail, but the filter seems to catch all of it. I've been trying to "un-Google" myself for privacy reasons, and switched to Apple's iCloud mail. You can create a couple email aliases, and also unlimited "hide my email" addresses that you can delete if one starts getting spammed. Pretty awesome for when you sign up for some coupon but don't want them to have your actual email address. Highly recommend.
jebmke
Posts: 25476
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:44 pm
Location: Delmarva Peninsula

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by jebmke »

This is what has worked for me. Could just be coincidences though.

My personal email account is with GMail. I only give out this address to people I know. Never used for anything commercial.
Most email is read and sent through Thunderbird, not through the browser.
I never -- and I mean never -- click on links in these emails.
If I do sign into GMail, I use Chrome on my desktop. The only thing I use Chrome for is Google services (Calendar, Drive, Docs, GMail); no browsing, no search in Chrome.
Separate addresses for some other activities (non-profit volunteer work); non-profits will sell or trade your email address with others. They also tend to be sloppy with mass mailings exposing your address to everyone in their system.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
scrabbler1
Posts: 2798
Joined: Fri Nov 20, 2009 1:39 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by scrabbler1 »

My gmail account is a back-up email, so only a few people have the address. I don't get any spam sent to it. However, I have noticed a large increase in the last year or two of junk email addresses with a gmail.com domain. This is bad because the only wild card I can use in my main email's blocking filter is domain name, and I can't indiscriminately block all emails sent from gmail.com. I would like to be able to use a wild card such as an asterisk to block all domain names which fit a general pattern for domain names, as many of the junk ones are similar. But despite many requests to see this feature, it has never been added.
JBTX
Posts: 11227
Joined: Wed Jul 26, 2017 12:46 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by JBTX »

Check to see if your email was part of any known hacks and on the dark web


https://haveibeenpwned.com/


If it is you are probably screwed. Might want to consider phasing in a new email address.
retire2022
Posts: 3286
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:10 pm
Location: NYC

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by retire2022 »

I used to get more spam in my yahoo account but, using the view raw email account I notice the sender has illegitimate email different from big corporates.

Then I block the sender and delete all correspondence and it seems to work.

With one gmail account, the block user feature does not block at all and senders keep on sending more, esp if designated at spam.

The gmail unsubscribe brings more spammers.
jebmke
Posts: 25476
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:44 pm
Location: Delmarva Peninsula

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by jebmke »

retire2022 wrote: Sat Jul 02, 2022 11:45 pm I used to get more spam in my yahoo account but, using the view raw email account I notice the sender has illegitimate email different from big corporates.

Then I block the sender and delete all correspondence and it seems to work.

With one gmail account, the block user feature does not block at all and senders keep on sending more, esp if designated at spam.

The gmail unsubscribe brings more spammers.
Unsubscribing a known spam is the same as answering a robocall. Never do.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
howard71
Posts: 478
Joined: Wed Oct 28, 2020 11:10 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by howard71 »

02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Sending them to the spam folder doesn't seem to improve things for the future.
Does sending something to the spam folder automatically report the email as spam? I didn't think so I've always taken the extra step to report it as spam.

I rarely get any spam nowadays. When I do, it's usually some kind of obvious fraud attempt - mostly phishing - like a receipt for something you didn't buy.
iamblessed
Posts: 1808
Joined: Sat Jun 09, 2018 11:52 am
Location: St. Louis

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by iamblessed »

I am getting about five a day that make it though the spam filter. Was much better in the past. I am guessing in the last year or two is when it started to get bad. I have had this email a long time and hate to change it. But it guess at some point I might be forced to.
jebmke
Posts: 25476
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:44 pm
Location: Delmarva Peninsula

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by jebmke »

iamblessed wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 10:24 am I am getting about five a day that make it though the spam filter. Was much better in the past. I am guessing in the last year or two is when it started to get bad. I have had this email a long time and hate to change it. But it guess at some point I might be forced to.
if you are using it for anything commercial (e.g. shopping) you may have no choice. Keep in mind that changing over isn't like cutting power - you can do it gradually. The biggest challenge will be training your personal contacts to use the new address. But it isn't like you can't find their emails in the old address.

I made a cut from Yahoo for personal use in 2004 but I still find a random email from someone in that inbox. After a period of time, I started to gently remind people that I don't monitor this address regularly so if they expect a response, they better change their contact database to the new address.

It isn't as onerous as it seems
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
mary1492
Posts: 716
Joined: Thu Oct 17, 2019 3:02 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by mary1492 »

.....
Last edited by mary1492 on Thu Sep 29, 2022 2:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Johndoefire65
Posts: 132
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2022 9:58 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Johndoefire65 »

1 a week or two in inbox. Flagged as spam and deleted. Number that goes in spam box is irrelevant
Topic Author
02nz
Posts: 10510
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:17 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by 02nz »

mary1492 wrote: Wed Jul 06, 2022 5:55 am
02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Any informed speculation as to possible reasons?
As noted above, I experienced this. Resolution - in gmail, create a filter:
from:@addto-cart.co.uk
Delete it, Never send it to Spam

The bulk of the spam has stopped since I put it in place 2 days ago.
Thanks, however I tried doing a search for that domain, and it didn't come up with a single result in my inbox (I have not deleted/moved all the spam messages, so some would still be coming up), so this filter wouldn't be doing anything in my case. Most of these spam messages posing as Sam's, Costco, Lowe's, etc., have various (and almost certainly fake) domain.
User avatar
Elsebet
Posts: 1606
Joined: Mon Feb 08, 2016 1:28 pm
Location: Erie, PA

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Elsebet »

mary1492 wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 7:03 pm YES!

Many telling me I've won some awesome Dewalt tool from Home Depot, this thing or that thing from every retailer you can imagine. Similar to you, it had been low, and then in the past 6 to 8 weeks it's taken off. I'll now regularly receive 40 to 60 a day! At least Google is very good about catching them and putting in to the spam folder. Maybe one a day gets through to my Inbox.
I also have been getting the Dwalt tool as well as Car Insurance Confirmation receipts almost daily. They mostly go into the spam folder). It's more recent since normally I rarely get anything in my spam folder.
"...the man who adapts himself to his slender means and makes himself wealthy on a little sum, is the truly rich man..." ~Seneca
RetiredAL
Posts: 3537
Joined: Tue Jun 06, 2017 12:09 am
Location: SF Bay Area

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by RetiredAL »

howard71 wrote: Sun Jul 03, 2022 8:39 am
02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Sending them to the spam folder doesn't seem to improve things for the future.
Does sending something to the spam folder automatically report the email as spam? I didn't think so I've always taken the extra step to report it as spam.
Comcast's browser E-mail seems to respond to putting items in the spam filter.

For years, my now very elderly Dad downloaded his mail from Comcast to his I-Mac. He no longer uses his I-Mac and I manage his e-mail using Comcast's Browser Mail. Initially, his account was daily buried with spam. When I started flagging stuff as spam, over time, more and more kept going directly to the spam folder. It's not unusual to get 20 items a week deposited into the spam folder, with only 2 or 3 to his inbox.

My experience is that 80% of the dangerous e-mails -- the please confirm this amazon purchase, we want to steal your CC # -- come labeled from G-mail accounts, and are likely faked.

Of note, the spam load the last several days has been very low.
Saving$
Posts: 2518
Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2011 8:33 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Saving$ »

I have had an increase in specific spam, that purports to be an invoice/an autorenewal/ an order confirmation/a payment confirmation, etc, and each of these spams has an attachment, supposedly documenting the purported transaction. Many of them are for "Norton" or other anti virus.

I presume these attachments have worms or viruses that one would get if the attachment were opened.
Also, I presume the senders are "phising" for credit card numbers and other identifying info.

I report each of them as "phising" emails. I think that sends them to spam, but I'm not sure as I don't check my spam. I just checked and spam seems to be catching quite a few of them as there are many more in spam than have made it to my inbox to get reported as spam.
homebuyer6426
Posts: 1833
Joined: Tue Feb 07, 2017 8:08 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by homebuyer6426 »

This happened to me after I gave my email at checkout of a major department store (Sears).
43% Total Stock Market | 53% Consumer Staples | 4% Short Term Reserves
Topic Author
02nz
Posts: 10510
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:17 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by 02nz »

Update November 2023: Holy cow, I just saw a massive increase in spam yesterday. About two dozen spam messages (looking very similar to other spam that used to get caught) made it into the inbox. Anyone else see the same?
Last edited by 02nz on Sun Nov 05, 2023 10:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
dukeblue219
Posts: 4074
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2016 11:40 am

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by dukeblue219 »

02nz wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 10:50 am Update November 2023: Holy cow, I just saw a massive increase in spam yesterday. Over a dozen spam messages (looking very similar to other spam that used to get caught) made it into the inbox. Anyone else see the same?
Nope.

Ive had Gmail for 19 years now and I get close to 0 true SPAMs in my inbox. Just keep reporting them as SPAM and move on.
Tom_T
Posts: 4837
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:33 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by Tom_T »

02nz wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 10:50 am Update November 2023: Holy cow, I just saw a massive increase in spam yesterday. About two dozen spam messages (looking very similar to other spam that used to get caught) made it into the inbox. Anyone else see the same?
Yes. A lot of poorly-written "your xxx subscription is about to expire." A whole bunch of those appeared recently, and Gmail did not catch all of them. What I normally do is go to the Gmail Web page and report them as phishing instead of spam. For some reason, the "phishing" option does not appear in the Gmail app.
Topic Author
02nz
Posts: 10510
Joined: Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:17 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by 02nz »

Tom_T wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 1:21 pm
02nz wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 10:50 am Update November 2023: Holy cow, I just saw a massive increase in spam yesterday. About two dozen spam messages (looking very similar to other spam that used to get caught) made it into the inbox. Anyone else see the same?
Yes. A lot of poorly-written "your xxx subscription is about to expire." A whole bunch of those appeared recently, and Gmail did not catch all of them. What I normally do is go to the Gmail Web page and report them as phishing instead of spam. For some reason, the "phishing" option does not appear in the Gmail app.
That's what I did as well just now, it's just annoying because there were easily a couple dozen of them. What's amazing to me is that they are so blatantly obvious and similar to each other, yet Google with all their investments in AI and whatever can't manage to filter out the spam.
TheOscarGuy
Posts: 1563
Joined: Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:10 pm
Location: Where I wanna be.

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by TheOscarGuy »

02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Longtime Gmail user, in the past 3-4 months I've noticed a massive uptick in spam that makes it through the spam filter. It used to be that virtually no spam would make it through to my inbox, but now several messages daily (many posing as Costco, Lowe's, Home Depot, or others, but definitely spam, not commercial email from those companies) are getting through. Sending them to the spam folder doesn't seem to improve things for the future.

Related or not, I've also noticed a significant increase in spam/scam calls in the same time period.

Have others noticed the same? Any informed speculation as to possible reasons?
Haven't noticed an uptick recently. I have my gmail forwarded to fastmail.
I usually cycle through my email ids as well. For most online purchases I create masked emails -- very easy to do -- through fastmail. I am aggressive at unsubscribing too, and if they don't behave I simply delete that email. That includes getting spammed on a particular email ID -- if I get too much spam, I just delete that masked email.
mander75
Posts: 470
Joined: Mon Jul 17, 2023 4:21 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by mander75 »

02nz wrote: Fri Jul 01, 2022 3:10 pm Longtime Gmail user, in the past 3-4 months I've noticed a massive uptick in spam that makes it through the spam filter. It used to be that virtually no spam would make it through to my inbox, but now several messages daily (many posing as Costco, Lowe's, Home Depot, or others, but definitely spam, not commercial email from those companies) are getting through. Sending them to the spam folder doesn't seem to improve things for the future.

Related or not, I've also noticed a significant increase in spam/scam calls in the same time period.

Have others noticed the same? Any informed speculation as to possible reasons?
Just saw this thread but I started getting a bunch of similar spam emails around mid 2022. Gmails spam filter is not strong enough. I keep reporting those as “spam” but it does not decrease the spam volume.
DiamondplateDave
Posts: 209
Joined: Sat Jun 06, 2015 10:23 pm

Re: Increase in Gmail spam?

Post by DiamondplateDave »

I just checked multiple Gmail accounts; I found one in one inbox with no subject, with an attached 'invoice'. One regular spam in the spam folder. Both in the account I have my domains registered to. Others were clean.
They didn't put much work into the one email, it said "Scanned By Gmail" or something. No subject and no text in the body, all the emails on the CC: line and the dubious "Invoice" attachment.
Post Reply