Spammer inserted calendar appointment

[Ajax_of_The_Rockies]

I am using Outlook 2016 on Windows 10 x64.  Today an appointment reminder popped from the Calendar to "learn girl secrets" from someone calling herself Sawyer Dodson.

Can someone tell me how that got on the Calendar?  Has my machine been compromised?  Is my AV insufficient?  Something else I should know!

I absolutely do not click on stuff that I did not directly solicit - emails with that sort of thing are deleted and not viewed.

Thanks!!!

—A

[#2]

@Ajax_of_The_Rockies 

If you received an unexpected or spam calendar appointment in Outlook, it could be the result of various factors. It is important to note that receiving such invitations does not necessarily mean your machine has been compromised, as calendar spam can happen to anyone. Here are a few possibilities for how it may have occurred:

1. Calendar invitation spam: Spammers can send calendar invitations to email addresses they have obtained, hoping that users will accept or view the invitation. This can happen even if you have not directly clicked on any suspicious links or engaged with spam emails.
2. Shared calendar events: If you have shared your calendar with others or accepted calendar sharing invitations, it's possible that someone added the appointment as a prank or without your knowledge. Check your calendar sharing settings and review any shared calendar permissions you may have granted.
3. Malicious email attachments: Sometimes, malicious emails can contain calendar attachments that automatically add appointments to your calendar when opened. However, you mentioned that you do not click on unsolicited emails, so this is less likely the cause.

To mitigate the issue and prevent further occurrences, you can take the following steps:

1. Delete the appointment: Remove the unwanted appointment from your calendar by right-clicking on it and selecting the delete option.
2. Adjust calendar settings: Review your calendar sharing settings and ensure that only trusted individuals or contacts have permission to make changes to your calendar.
3. Update your antivirus software: Ensure that your antivirus software is up to date and perform a full system scan to check for any potential malware or viruses on your computer.
4. Be cautious with accepting invitations: Avoid accepting or opening calendar invitations from unknown or suspicious sources. Delete any suspicious invitations without responding or clicking on any links within them.

By following these steps, you can address the immediate issue and reduce the likelihood of future calendar spam. Additionally, maintaining good security practices such as keeping your software up to date, being cautious with email attachments, and regularly scanning your system for malware can help enhance your overall online security. The steps were processed using AI.

Hope this will help you.

[#3]

@NikolinoDE 

It would be nice if this solution actually worked.

I have gone into settings and set it so that ALL calendar events are set to:

"Don't show event summaries in email or on my calendar"

However, if someone sends me SPAM with a calendar event, it does not show on my calendar anymore, but I still get spammed with notifications for events.

I have NOTHING on my calendar, so I should not get ANY event notifications, but almost email that is sent to me that is SPAM that is not filtered by the SPAM Filter (which is WAY more than ANY other email account I use, a primary reason outlook.com is no longer my main account), I get notified of a calendar event that is not on my calendar. It appears that there is more work needed in order to get this fixed.

[#4]

That once happened to me, when a false "Mcafee" said our subscription was expired, and made a calendar event. They kept doing it. I couldn't get rid of it! Eventually, they were gone. I don't have a solution to this. What security system to you use?

[#5]

@Talderon 

In Outlook, if you are still receiving notifications for calendar events even after adjusting your settings, you may need to check a few additional configurations:

1. Notification Settings:
• Open Outlook and go to the "File" tab.
• Click on "Options" and then select "Advanced."
• Scroll down to the "Reminders" section.
• Ensure that the option "Show reminders" is unchecked.
2. Clean Up Deleted Items:
• Check if there are any calendar items in your "Deleted Items" folder. Sometimes, even if you delete a calendar event, it may still trigger notifications.
• Go to the "Deleted Items" folder, and permanently delete any calendar-related items.
3. Check for Add-ins:
• Add-ins can sometimes interfere with Outlook's behavior. Disable any unnecessary add-ins and see if the issue persists.
• Go to the "File" tab, click on "Options," and then select "Add-ins."
• Manage the COM Add-ins and disable any that are not essential.
4. Outlook.com (Online) Settings:
• If your Outlook account is linked to an Outlook.com (online) account, check the settings on the Outlook.com website.
• Log in to your Outlook.com account in a web browser.
• Go to the Calendar section and review your settings, especially those related to notifications.
5. Update Outlook:
• Ensure that you are using the latest version of Outlook. Check for any available updates and install them.

If you have followed these steps and all the previous ones and the problem still persists, I'm afraid I can't help because I'm at my wits' end. It could also be a bug or a persistent virus, whatever, you can contact Microsoft Support for further help.

Thank you for your understanding and patience

[#6]

@Ajax_of_The_Rockies 

I've recently started getting spam invites and after several days of browsing posts, google searches, etc. I believe I found a way to stop them as it was a pain to delete them every day.  I tried all the other Calendar settings choices via searches, etc.

1. Login to your Microsoft web email.

2. Click on the Settings gear in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

3. In the second column, click on Junk email.

4. At the bottom of the screen you will see a "Filters" section.  I checked both boxes for:

    a. Only trust email from addresses in my Safe senders and domains list and Safe Mailing lists.

    b. Block attachments, pictures, and links from anyone not in my Safe senders and domains list.

It took me a while to update my Safe senders list, but it's been a couple days and I haven't had anymore spam invites added to my calendar.  I save all my non spam emails and just had to right click on a message from each email address I did want to keep, and click "Never Block Sender".  Otherwise you will need to add each one manually.

Hope this helps.

[#7]

@Ajax_of_The_Rockies 

Did you find any easy fix? I do not want to block all calendar appointments because that is very inconvenient. Microsoft's email is my personal email service and I receive junk emails every other day that also add calendar events. It is annoying and Microsoft should fix it asap. It is so simple; if the message is marked as junk, remove it from calendar. Microsoft has been less consumer friendly lately.

My work emails are managed by google and I have not had this problem (I might not have received junk with calendar events though).

[#8]

@Ajax_of_The_Rockies I don’t even have an option to delete these spam calendar  notices. Just an “accept? Decline, or maybe”.  

[#9]

When I right click I am not given the option to delete. The only options I have are to space ot, decline or maybe. And when I hit decline I get a message that says they are u able to decline this event sooo frustrated

[#10]

@Woodbine_mom Don’t RSVP the junk. I usually go to calendar in outlook.com and delete there.

[#11]

I can’t find a way to delete from there either

[#12]

on MS 365 - come on MS seems needs a a simple solution - if an email is filtered to junk or block DON'T let it post on invite on the Calendar

[#13]

Same problem here. Seems like a simple problem to solve if Microsoft would fix it.

[#14]

when you do this you miss out on any other invites if they are not in your saved sender list

[#15]

I recently started to have a similar issue with my webmail on Outlook.com. These ones were for package deliveries, added from fishing emails claiming to be from the USPS. Since they didn't include actual event invites, it seems to be Outlook AI trying to be helpful. I'm wondering if that is causing events to be added from other emails even when people have disabled it.