4 simple Gmail settings tweaks I use to block AI scams and spam before they reach my inbox

A few years ago, before the advent of Gen AI, I searched online for how normal it is to have multiple email addresses. The search results were reassuring, and I have never worried about having multiple email accounts since then.

While I have four email accounts, none of them is as busy as my Gmail. This is not a surprise because I use it for websites, sign-ups, public forms, and more.

The more public exposure your email gets, the more likely you are to get spam, and nowadays, coupled with AI scam messages, in your inbox.

I used to get many of those emails, but I finally pulled the trigger to stop receiving those harmful messages.

Anyone can achieve a quiet Gmail inbox; you just need to follow the right steps, as I did. I used four simple Gmail settings tweaks to block AI scams and spam before they reach my inbox.

Related

8 ways to spot (and block) AI-powered spam in your inbox

Keep your inbox organized and your data safe

Posts By  Prarthana Gopal

Reporting is the easiest way to stop Gmail from being flooded with spam

It only requires a couple of clicks

Bad actors send emails that look like they're from reputable organizations or sites you use to steal your personal information. These are phishing emails, and you should never click anything in the email.

However, you should do more to prevent these phishing emails from reaching your inbox. One of the easiest things you can do is report those emails to Google.

This is easy to do. Open the email, select the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner, and click Report phishing.

Google has an effective mechanism in place to identify phishing emails and show a warning on users' screens. However, this doesn't always work. As a result, those emails reach your inbox instead of the Spam folder.

This is when you should report it to Google. The Mountain View tech giant will then analyze the email and attachments to prevent further abuse.

When you report an email as phishing, the email moves to the Spam folder. If you accidentally marked it as phishing, you can undo it by opening the email and then clicking the Report not phishing button in the Spam folder.

I have set a strict spam filter on Gmail

This is one of my favorite tricks

Not all spam messages are meant to steal your personal information. Many are marketing emails to promote products and services.

I've never found them useful, and haven't used any of those links to purchase products or services. These emails are as unwanted as any other spam messages in my Gmail account.

This is why I've set a strict spam filter on Gmail. This isn't as simple as reporting phishing to Google, but it isn't difficult to set up. I did it by following a few simple steps.

Open Gmail, select the Gear icon at the top, click See all settings, click Filters and blocked addresses, and select Create a new filter.

The next step is to fill in some text fields, like which address you want to filter, size, subject, specific words, and then click the Create filter button.

This will ask you to choose an action Gmail will take when an email exactly matches the criteria you set. I want them to be deleted, but you can archive them as well.

You can also mark as read, important, start it, and many more. But for repeat offenders, I recommend choosing the Delete option.

I filter entire domains, and not just a single address

Double-checking domains, character by character, is as important

Spam or scam campaigns are never one-off emails. Scammers typically generate multiple sender addresses using a specific domain and send emails frequently.

This is why filtering a single address isn't enough. Filtering an entire domain catches every email from it. You can do this on the Filters page in Gmail.

Follow the same steps when setting up a spam filter, but instead of using an email address, enter the domain name after an asterisk and the @ sign in the From text field.

Create a separate filter for this if you want to take different action. However, I strongly discourage creating many filters, as they become difficult to manage.

I also tell my friends to double-check domains, character by character, before putting them on Gmail's filter page. If you get them wrong, you may never receive that important email.

After creating a filter, check it again to see if you entered the details correctly. If you want to change something, use the Edit option or delete the filter.

You can change your filters from the Filters and Blocked Addresses page in Gmail.

I maintain a blocklist on Gmail

I review the blocklist, too

The three-dot menu in the upper-right corner isn't only for reporting phishing emails to Google. You can also use it to block a sender in Gmail.

When you block someone in Gmail, they won't know you blocked them, but their emails won't reach your inbox. This is also one of the easiest ways to stop spam from reaching your inbox.

You'll find emails from these blocked addresses in the Spam folder. You'll never have to worry about these emails, but review the blocklist after blocking someone on Gmail.

To view blocked email addresses, click the Gear icon, select See all settings, and then click Filters and Blocked Addresses. This page lists all blocked email addresses.

You can also unblock an email from this page if you added someone to the list by mistake. When you unblock them, those emails will return to your inbox from the Spam folder.

What else do I do to stop spam messages?

These are all preventive measures, but things can still go wrong, and bad actors can still trick you even after following the steps above. So, as important as those preventive actions are, you should also be careful with emails you don't trust.

If I receive an email with a weird subject line from an unknown sender, I avoid opening it. This reduces the chances of accidental clicks and ruins the sender's attempt to check whether my email account is active.

I also advise against using your primary email account everywhere. I keep my primary email account for work, banking, and other essential services, and not for signing up to websites I visit once in a while.

These Gmail tweaks can save you from a lot of trouble

Scammers keep coming up with innovative ways to harm users, but no matter how good those emails are at appearing legitimate, they can't bypass those settings.

Even if some harmful emails sneak into your inbox using a different address or domain, you can still be safe by avoiding interacting with them in any way.

I've never fallen prey to the bad actors because I tweaked the above settings and consistently followed Google account security best practices.