Trusted sender keeps on ending up in SPAM | ExchangeDefender [ Skip to content ](#main) [ ![ExchangeDefender](/assets/images/xd_logo_blue.png) ](/) Email Security ![Platform Overview](/assets/images/m-xd-pro.png)### ExchangeDefender PRO Enterprise-grade email security made simple for every business. 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The long story, technical background, and best practices are outlined at [https://www.exchangedefender.com/docs/whitelist](https://www.exchangedefender.com/docs/whitelist). It usually sounds like this: #### *“I keep whitelisting this email address that sends me my OTP password / password reminder / login code / transaction confirmation / newsletter and they keep on ending up in SPAM!”* *This happens for clients that configure ExchangeDefender to block email forgeries and spoofing.* You see, the email address that is showing up in ExchangeDefender and your Outlook/Gmail is not the actual email address that the message was sent from. Large volume emails (OTP, password reminders, notifications) are not sent by humans, they are computer generated and there is a random email address for every notification they sent out (so when/if it bounces they can track it). These automated email addresses tend to have a long randomly generated identifier in them and generally look like this: **** But in your Outlook/Gmail the spoofed/faked email appears to have come from which has the domain you trust and attempt to allow/whitelist. If you pull up the SMTP headers from the quarantined email you can see this email address in the **envelope-from** field: > Received: from inbound10.exchangedefender.com (65.99.255.114) by owa.exchangedefenderdemo.com (10.10.10.5) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id 14.3.498.0; Thu, 29 Jun 2023 05:23:03 -0400 Received-SPF: pass (inbound10.exchangedefender.com: domain of designates 54.240.77.69 as permitted sender) receiver=inbound10.exchangedefender.com; client-ip=54.240.77.69; helo=a77-69.smtp-out.amazonses.com; envelope-from=; x-software=ExchangeDefender SPF; Authentication-Results: inbound10.exchangedefender.com; dmarc=pass (p=quarantine dis=none) header.from=someotpsite.cz Authentication-Results: inbound10.exchangedefender.com; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=someotpsite.cz header.i=@someotpsite.cz header.b="QPv3HP79"; dkim=pass (1024-bit key) header.d=amazonses.com header.i=@amazonses.com header.b="MsX8RGl7" Received: from a77-69.smtp-out.amazonses.com (a77-69.smtp-out.amazonses.com \[54.240.77.69\]) by inbound10.exchangedefender.com (8.14.7/8.14.7) with ESMTP id 35T9M86a030204 <>; Thu, 29 Jun 2023 05:22:09 -0400 From: <> To: <> Subject: ConnectWise Manage Security Code ... Solving this issue requires your ExchangeDefender admin to decide how permissive they want to be of email forgeries and fakes. ExchangeDefender provides two ways to manage this in the ExchangeDefender Domain Admin app at [https://admin.exchangedefender.com](https://admin.exchangedefender.com) ([see documentation](https://www.exchangedefender.com/docs/domain)) Option 1: Allow email from the bulk email network ------------------------------------------------- ExchangeDefender enables you to automatically pass through messages coming from specific bulk/spam mail providers. It’s located at [https://admin.exchangedefender.com](https://admin.exchangedefender.com) under **Advanced Features > Bulk Mailer Policy**: [![](https://storage.services.exchangedefender.network/exchangedefender-blog/blog/2023/07/image.png)](https://storage.services.exchangedefender.network/exchangedefender-blog/blog/2023/07/image.png) In our example SMTP header the message came from AmazonSES so if you change the policy from Scan to Allow, ExchangeDefender will simply deliver these messages to your mailbox without quarantining it as a forgery/spoof (which it is). Option 2: Choose a relaxed From: policy --------------------------------------- This is a less secure option that will allow forgeries and effectively lowers your security level to that of M365/Office365 – and we strongly discourage you from doing that. However, if the client requires it you can get it done under **Advanced Features > From: Policy**: [![](https://storage.services.exchangedefender.network/exchangedefender-blog/blog/2023/07/image-1.png)](https://storage.services.exchangedefender.network/exchangedefender-blog/blog/2023/07/image-1.png) #### **Summary** If you’re seeing notification emails in your SPAM quarantine even though you’ve trusted the sender repeatedly, it’s doing so because the message is being spoofed and your admin has configured ExchangeDefender to block that activity. You can relax the security restrictions by choosing to either allow the bulk mail network or you can build your trust rules on the less-secure From: address. Our team is always here to help but they aren’t allowed to guess without seeing the SMTP headers first – so if you ever run into an issue that you’d like us to take a look at grab the headers and provide them at [https://support.exchangedefender.com](https://support.exchangedefender.com) and we’ll advise from there. [ Previous post How Can I Improve My Email Delivery Rates? June 27, 2023 ](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2023/06/how-can-i-improve-my-email-delivery-rates) [ Next post Something old, new, borrowed, and blue! July 19, 2023 ](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2023/07/something-old-new-borrowed-and-blue) Related Posts ------------- [ 1 May ](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/05/exchangedefender-new-ui-is-live)### [ExchangeDefender New UI is Live](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/05/exchangedefender-new-ui-is-live) [Read more: ExchangeDefender New UI is Live](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/05/exchangedefender-new-ui-is-live) [ ![](https://storage.services.exchangedefender.network/exchangedefender-blog/blog/2026/04/xd10.png) 2 Apr ](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/04/announcing-exchangedefender-10)### [Announcing ExchangeDefender 10](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/04/announcing-exchangedefender-10) [Read more: Announcing ExchangeDefender 10](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/04/announcing-exchangedefender-10) [ ![](https://storage.services.exchangedefender.network/exchangedefender-blog/blog/2025/12/christmas-1.jpg) 25 Dec ](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2025/12/merry-christmas)### [Merry Christmas](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2025/12/merry-christmas) [Read more: Merry Christmas](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2025/12/merry-christmas) Search the blog Search Recent Posts ------------ - [ExchangeDefender New UI is Live](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/05/exchangedefender-new-ui-is-live) - [Announcing ExchangeDefender 10](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2026/04/announcing-exchangedefender-10) - [Merry Christmas](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2025/12/merry-christmas) - [Why IoT Devices Are a Hidden Security Risk for Your Business](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2025/11/why-iot-devices-are-a-hidden-security-risk-for-your-business) - [Top 5 IT Problems Small Businesses Face in 2025 — and How to Fix Them](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog/2025/10/top-5-it-problems-small-businesses-face-in-2025-and-how-to-fix-them) Categories ---------- - [Archiving](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=archiving) (21) - [Business Continuity](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=business-continuity) (13) - [Compliance](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=compliance) (8) - [ExchangeDefender](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=exchangedefender) (349) - [General](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=uncategorized) (590) - [Hosted Services](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=hosted-services) (86) - [Industry News](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=industrynews) (29) - [Marketing](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=marketing) (18) - [Phishing](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=phishing) (5) - [PRO TIPS](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=pro-tips) (44) - [Product Features](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=product-features) (54) - [Security](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=security) (65) - [Shockey Monkey](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=shockey-monkey) (22) - [Spamfilter](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=spamfilter) (5) - [Support](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=support) (45) - [Webinars](https://www-preview.exchangedefender.com/blog?category=webinars) (44) Solutions --------- - [Stop Spam & Malware](/email-security) - [Hands-Free Email Backup](/livearchive-backup) - [Instant Email Recovery](/inbox) - [Send Private Emails](/corporate-email-encryption) - [Train Against Email Threats](/spearphishing) - [Share Files Safely](/web-file-server) Company ------- - [About ExchangeDefender](/about-us) - [Compliance & Legal](/our-compliance) - [Become a Partner](/partners) - [Support Portal Login](https://support.exchangedefender.com/) - [Microsoft 365 Email Management](/managed-email-operations) - [AI Advisory Service](/management-ai) ![ExchangeDefender](/assets/images/dark-xd-logo.png)USA: +1 (407) 465-6800 United Kingdom: 0800 8620149 Australia: +61 0390010641 Fax: +1 (954) 839-8737 [ ](https://www.facebook.com/ExchangeDefender) [ ](https://www.twitter.com/XD_Defender) [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/company/exchangdefender) [ ](/blog) © 2026 Own Web Now Corp - All rights reserved </> with ❤️ in Orlando [SLA](/sla) [TOS](/tos) [PRIVACY](/privacy-end-users) [AUP](/aup) We're Here to Help 👋 -------------------- Tired of AI 🤖 and hold music? 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