Revision as of 22:37, 1 March 2022

Spam can become a big problem. WHMCS comes with spam control filters to reduce the amount of spam you receive. The spam control features will allow you to block email address and keywords or phrases that appear in either the message subject or body. which pipe into the ticket system from email.

You can configure the spam control feature at Configuration () > System Settings > Spam Control'.

Messages that you receive via the contact or submit ticket pages are not subject to these spam controls. For those, we recommend using reCaptcha.

Adding a Blocked Email Address

There are two ways to block an email address from opening tickets. The first is the easiest: when viewing a ticket from the email you want to block, click the Block Sender button next to the ticket opener's details.

For the second method, go to Configuration () > System Settings > Spam Control and use the Add box to enter the email you want to block. Then, submit the form to add it.

Blocking Keywords or Phrases

To set up keywords or phrases that, if they're in an email, will prevent the email from opening a ticket, go to Configuration () > System Settings > Spam Control. You can then enter the words or phrases and choose where the system looks for them (either the subject or body of the message). If the system finds that the email subject contains the blocked subject, or if the blocked phrase is found within the email body, then a ticket will not be opened. The blocking of keywords or phrases is not case-sensitive.

Further Protection

Obscure Addresses

If you use common email addresses (especially hosting companies) such as support@ or contact@, you will receive more spam. This is due to spammers blindly emailing these addresses on several domains. If you use less-common addresses, it may reduce your level of incoming spam.

For example, you could use:

• helpme@yourdomain
• support-team@yourdomain
• assistance@yourdomain

Apache SpamAssassin™

Outside of WHMCS, you can combat the number of spam emails you are receiving by enabling Apache SpamAssassin™. This tool does a very good job of picking up most spam using its rule-based system and worldwide database of spam messages. For more information, see http://spamassassin.apache.org/

If you have configured your anti-spam system to add a prefix to the email's subject, you can use spam control to block those emails. Visit Configuration () > System Settings > Spam Control, set the Type as Subject, and enter the text added by your anti-spam system. For example, if **SPAM** is added to the subject, enter that text as the value. Then, click Add New Spam Control. Any email containing the text in the subject will now be blocked from being imported.