Keep getting emails that you don't want? Tried to mark them as spam in Gmail, or did you create filters but somehow more spam emails find their way to your inbox?
It's not uncommon to find yourself in this situation.
Spammers aren't just adept in acquiring email addresses using various methods (both legal and illegal), but they've also become good at slipping past Gmail's spam filters. It's a game of cat-and-mouse that is hard to keep up with for email providers like Gmail.
So, how do you prevent ongoing spam?
Would it work to simply bounce-back their emails?
In this article, we'll share how we're helping people prevent spam and how you can use fake bounce-back emails with Block Sender to prevent more harassing emails.
Blocking an Email
Gmail's spam filters can't save you from all types of spam, so we've developed a service with a free Chrome Extension to help you with blocking these emails.
When installed, the Block Sender extension integrates directly with Gmail. It's easy-to-use and comes with the a number of block options:
- Names
- Email addresses
- Websites and domains
- Domain extensions
- Keywords
- Subjects
- Phrases
- IP address
How to use Block Sender's Bounce Back Email Feature
Once you've blocked an email using one of the above options, an effective way to prevent future email is to use a bounce-back email.
Why?
Spammers and email harassers often continue to send their unwanted emails using different email addresses, usernames, domains, and more. This makes it hard for any mail provider to stop all spam, including Gmail / Google Workspace.
But when you use a bounce-back email, your inbox replies to spammers with an "undelivered" message. This tells spammers that your email account "doesn't exist" or that the email has been blocked. This gives spammers less incentive to continue emailing what they think is a "dead" account.
Here is what the bounce-back looks like:
Currently Block Sender users can use one of the following two bounce-back email templates:
- Fake Bounce Back: Bounces back blocked email messages with our authentic-looking error message
- Blocked by Block Sender: Let the spammer know that they've been blocked and that they can't get through to your inbox
We're also working on a third customizable version that will be available soon.
Here are the steps to set up bounce-backs on your own Gmail account:
- If you haven't already, download the Block Sender browser extension (Chrome, Firefox) called Block Sender for Gmail; or you can just sign up for an account, skip the extension, and just use our web-based dashboard.
- Assuming you have the extension, log into your Gmail account, sign up for Block Sender when prompted, and link your Gmail account with Block Sender.
- In your inbox, find the email address of the person you don't want to receive emails from anymore.
- Find the 'Block' button just below Gmail's search bar, and click it to open the dropdown.
- Select the "New Block" option.
- In the pop-up that appears, under "What do you want to block?" enter the email address you want to block and bounce back.
- Under "Should we Bounce Back their emails?" select the "Yes, bounce back" option. You'll need to have a Plus or Pro account to use this.
- Click the "Save" button
Bounce-back emails are sent back to spammers automatically after deleting their email from your inbox, so you'll never have to personally search for spam and delete it or manually send any type of "blocked" reply.
Note: However, we do provide a way to bounce back emails already in your inbox using the browser extension. Simply open the email, click the Block button, select "Reply with...", and click "Send response".
Spammers are able to sneak past Gmail's filters using different email addresses, domains, and usernames. Using Block Sender's blocking functionality, you'll be able to catch spam and block spammers by name, email addresses, website addresses, domain extensions, keywords, subjects, phrases, and IP addresses. You'll also be able to prevent future spam by sending spammers "undelivered" email replies.
If you're like many others, you probably have multiple email addresses through Gmail, like a personal email and a work email. Lucky for you, Block Sender makes it easy to block unwanted emails across all of your accounts with just a few clicks. Connect all of your accounts and take back your inboxes!
Download the free Chrome Extension and start blocking spam today.
