Forum Discussion
How do I get my Outlook365 email sending privileges back?
I'm a Microsoft Business Standard Customer in a 1-person LLC using a desktop computer running Windows11. I'm the one with administrator privileges, since I'm the sole purchaser and user. I've been using the NEW OUTLOOK for a bit more than a week.
My outbound mail is being blocked for this reason: email address removed for privacy reasons This message couldn't be delivered because the sending email address was not recognized as a valid sender. The most common reason for this error is that the email address is, or was, suspected of sending spam. Contact the organization's email admin for help and give them this error message.
I have never knowingly sent bulk email in 30 years of using my own computer.
The suspected security issue happened while using NordVPN, so it's not likely that my outgoing mail has been taken over by some kind of security risk.
I'm not a software support tech. The support instructions given so far are either too vague or not explained or too complicated for me to use. (What is Microsoft Defender XDR and why might I need it? How do I tell if my Outlook 365 messages are "compromised?")
I'd be grateful for suggestions on how to solve the bounced email issue or, better yet, be able to talk to someone with the ability to determine a) whether my computer is compromised and b) how to set my software so that it can't send spam and c) make me a valid sender again.
Thanks in advance for helping me out.
2 Replies
Hi Robert,
Thanks for getting back to me. You've taken time to compose good questions, so I'm a) answering those questions and b) continuing on to explain how my problem got solved on Saturday, November 28th.
I had been wondering how I could reach you because my return email to you was bounced.
1) Can you still send via Outlook on the Web?
The exchange-based email address was the one blocked. My Charter.com account remained able to send. Both accounts are on my resident windows11 desktop Outlook 365 Business Standard app. (If it's properly described as an app.)
2) The NDR report that is coming back, is that coming from Microsoft or from the receiving server of the recipient?
Office365Alerts @ microsoft.com <Office365Alerts @ microsoft.com>
3) Do you get the same results when sending to other domains? Try it for instance to addresses of Outlook.com, Gmail and Yahoo.
Only the exchange-based Outlook 365 address was affected.
4) Have you verified that the DNS for your domain is properly configured? This includes at least your MX, SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records. Contact your domain registrar or DNS provider if you don't know.
MX, SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records? No idea what they are. From GoDaddy? I've had the address for at least 5 years.
5) Also try sending with NordVPN turned off. Various systems detect this kind of VPN services and block them.
The first thing that I did was to deactivate the VPN. Then I restarted the computer.
BUT .... the problem was solved as soon as I was able to speak to a real, live tech support human. A genius by the name, I think, of Saro L worked my case at Tracking ID# 2610310040001740. He found, through guiding my cursor, that hackers, possibly from Oz, were able to create two new ________ @ Cha**********LLC.com addresses in my user account. That seems to have been what compromised it and triggered the outbound sending suspension. Once the two email addresses were deleted and my account was given a new password, Saro was able to get restored my outbound mail privileges.
So how did I get to Saro? I decided to start over finding help by googling: As a one-person customer of Outlook 365 Business Standard, how do I get human help? That eventually brought me to (118) How to get help or support with Microsoft 365 for business - YouTube I got help by generally following instructions in the video's first alternative -- Getting help through the Administrative Center Support Assistant. I asked my question and was given some technical issues to review. If that didn't get me my answer, then I was told to click on the Contact Icon, fill out a service request. I chose to be contacted by phone within 15 minutes, which call I hoped would come from a real live human. It did! Saro fixed the problem within about 30 minutes of getting the callback, which was received in 15 minutes!
I could never have fixed the problem by myself. Those "back office" admin portals are complicated and need the person using them to have a) had training and b) use the portals regularly. In addition, I would never risk a technical disaster by fiddling around in the registry and "shell" by myself, whatever a shell is. Some replies wanted that.
As I wandered around Microsoft hubs and communities on Thursday and Friday trying to reach a human, I found many other poor benighted souls who also had asked: "How do I reach a human?" There was never an answer, least of all from what, apparently, were untrained AI agents. We'd just start over, again and again and again. (The AI agents, if I'm using the term correctly, seemed to have been trained to interrupt people as they are typing their questions as soon as they recognize a term that they can relate to anything in Microsoft's vast storehouse of questions and answers, whereupon they drop everything that they've got on the questioner. I asked one of the agents not to answer until I had finished typing my question and its background. This didn't work after one go-round. To me, at least, they were frustrating because they sponged up time.)
I've written this so that, when a few changes are made, more people will eventually get a phone call from a human.
Best regards, Chuck
Let's first determine the actual scope of the issue but in these cases, it is rarely your own computer that has been compromised.
1) Can you still send via Outlook on the Web?
2) The NDR report that is coming back, is that coming from Microsoft or from the receiving server of the recipient?
3) Do you get the same results when sending to other domains? Try it for instance to addresses of Outlook.com, Gmail and Yahoo.
4) Have you verified that the DNS for your domain is properly configured? This includes at least your MX, SPF, DMARC, and DKIM records. Contact your domain registrar or DNS provider if you don't know.
5) Also try sending with NordVPN turned off. Various systems detect this kind of VPN services and block them
