Technical Tip: Email incorrectly tagged as SPAM.

Description

This article describes that if the FortiGate unit recognizes a valid email as spam, there are two methods for changing this behavior.

Scope

FortiGate.

Solution

1. Contact FortiGuard: If FortiGuard anti-spam services are being used, report a false positive for an email address. To report a false positive, go to the FortiGuard AntiSpam web site: https://www.fortiguard.com/contactus >> Appeal a blocked Spam IP, URL or Email address.

2. Create a local block/allow list: Create a static block/allow list to have an email address to be checked locally: enable Email-filter: under System -> Feature Visibility -> Email Filter.

For v6.2 and v6.4:

config emailfilter bwl

    edit 1

        set name "default"

        config entries

            edit 1

                set type email

                set action clear

                set email-pattern "example@example.com"

            next

        end

    next

  end

For v7.0:

config emailfilter block-allow-list

    edit 1

        set name "default"

        config entries

            edit 1

                set type email

                set action clear

                set email-pattern "example@example.com"

            next

        end

    next

end

Add the above in the related email filter profile:

config emailfilter profile

    edit "default"

        set spam-filtering enable

        set options spamfsip spamfssubmit spamfschksum spamfsurl spamhdrcheck spamfsphish

          config smtp

           set log-all enable

           set action discard

           set tag-msg "[Spam]"       

          end

        set spam-bwl-table 1 << add the entry created above(for 6.2. and 6.4)

        set spam-bal-table 1 << add the entry created above (for 7.0)

    next

end

To have the block/allow list take effect enable local check and override SMTP or SMTPS remote check:

config emailfilter profile

    edit "default"

     config smtp

      set local-override enable

     end

    next

  end