Too many bad emails have been sent

[iw123]

Hi this is my first post to this forum, although I note not the first time this subject has been discussed under various heading but I can see no definitive answer that works for all, except it eventually resolves itself somehow.

Basically I cant send emails from any client/device without getting the following error message

Sending of the message failed.
An error occurred while sending mail: Outgoing server (SMTP) error. The server responded: csmtp2.tb.ukmail.iss.as9143.net cmsmtp Virgin Media has blocked your connecting IP x.x.x.x Too many bad emails have been sent. Visit https://netreport.virginmedia.com/netreport Section: Email Sending Errors to request delisting.

I have tried all suggested avenues from this forum like filling in the form on netreport to request delisting by the Information Security team (too which I received and unhelpful automatic reply), power cycling the router for 10mins to try and obtain a new IP address, changing the account password and a lengthy phone call to a knowledgeable customer services chap who tried everything he knew but still did not resolve the issue (he is going to try and escalate this issue on my behalf - thankyou). I have even tried deleting the account from my android tablet and reinstalling it, but that has left me in a catch 22 situation where I cant reinstall the account as I now get the message "Server does not support authentication" on the tablet, so cant even receive emails on it anymore as I cant reinstate the account....

This is very frustrating as the only way I can send emails is from the Web based My Virginmedia page which I see others who have had the issue find is the case.

Does anyone know of another fix? or is a matter of sit tight and it will eventually resole itself like others have found. I first noticed this issue after several power cuts to the house and hence rooter if that has any relevance.

This is not a new issue as other on here have had issues, but VM customer support don't appear to have a fix or know about it and I had to inform them that it has been discussed on this forum for at least 6 months. 

Any help anyone?

[coenoby · Accepted solution]

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@iw123 wrote:

Any help anyone?

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Sadly, I cannot offer anything that you have not already worked out for yourself.

You have probably already seen this thread I remember contributing to last year:

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/quot-Too-many-bad-emails-have-been-sent

My post (post 5 of that thread) is all I can say really.

As you have found it is not possible to get a new VM IP address and neither changing the email account password or deleting the account from your email is app is going to have any effect.

For what it's worth, I have never received any feedback that anything I said in that post was incorrect.

In my personal view, until the block on your IP address is lifted you will still keep getting that same "Too many bad emails" error message. The workaround as you say is to use the VM Webmail service,

One of the Forum Team (VM employees who support this forum) will pick up on this thread and contact you via the forum. They may be able to update you however, VM do seem to remain tight lipped as to what is going on with security issues like this.

Sorry I cannot be more constructive.

Coenoby

[iw123]

coenoby thankyou for trying to help.

I can now add a bit more information about the issue that I was not aware of at my original post.

We have just been out for lunch and I tried sending an email from my phone whilst in the pub and connected to the pubs router, low and behold I was able to send emails??

However now I have returned home and the phone is back on my own VM router the problem is back again. I would have thought this information might be of use to a VM techie wizard to help with the issue. I cant believe this is a coincidence and will undertake trials tomorrow at my friends house on his VM setup to see what the results are. 

As a trial does anyone know how to force a change of IP address on VM hub3 router

[Graham_A]

@iw123  Given the error message it is not a surprise that emails were sent from a different WiFi connection as it is your home IP address that is being blocked.

Other than switching your VM hub to modem mode and attaching your own router there is no way to force an IP address change.

As advised above you will need to wait for the block to be lifted by VM security.

[iw123]

Thankyou to all who helped with this. I can now report 3 days after first noticing this issue and 2 days after filling in the netreport form and contacting vm customer support, that the issue is now resolved.

I have received this email from the vm security team

We have now taken action against this so the issue should now be resolved.

Please run a full anti-virus scan on your network to remove any possible malware as the IP was locked due to suspicious activity being detected.

Kind regards,
Customer Information Security Team – Virgin Media

Although I have run virus checkers on all my computers, tablets and phones, none was found. As I don't believe in coincidences, I believe the cause was the quick powering on and off of the router during a household electrical fault. Only time will tell, as if it was caused by a virus/malware that caused the issue, it was not spotted and cleared by any of my virus checkers.

To conclude if anyone else experiences the same issue as I have had, fill in the "netreport" form and sit tight for a few days and all may be resolved, even though I can't be sure why vm blocked me in the first place......

[coenoby]

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@iw123 wrote:

To conclude if anyone else experiences the same issue as I have had, fill in the "netreport" form and sit tight for a few days and all may be resolved, even though I can't be sure why vm blocked me in the first place......

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Thanks for coming back with that update. Good to know everything is now ok.

As I said, VM are very reticent about explaining what triggers this to happen. The advice to run a full av scan always seems to be their standard advice.

Coenoby