In this latest post of a series of blog posts where we attempt to demystify the most common SMTP error codes, today we discuss Verizon’s ubiquitous rejection code:
Email from xx.57.168.45 is currently blocked by Verizon Online's anti-spam system. The email sender or Email Service Provider may visit http://www.verizon.net/whitelist and request removal of the block. 123929
What does it mean?
Verizon’s email systems have rejected your message because the IP address of your mail server has been blocklisted by Verizon’s internal IP reputation system. It’s likely that your mail server is blocked because of recent bad behaviour such as sending spam, or email content about which Verizon customers have complained.
Verizon describes the error on their web page:
To protect our members and our network from unsolicited e-mail (spam), Verizon Online has put measures in place to restrict the distribution of e-mail containing spam and potentially harmful viruses to our members. If we review a restricted e-mail address or domain and determine, based on the information available, that it does not pose a current unacceptable risk to our members or our network, the e-mail address or domain can be “whitelisted” and, therefore, e-mail delivery will be allowed to your mailbox.
What can I do?
If you are confident that your mail server is not sending Verizon spam or other objectionable content, then you can request that Verizon add its IP address to a whitelist. You will need to fill in their whitelist request form. Verizon will then consider adding your IP to its whitelist; however, there is no guarantee that this will happen, and you may not get feedback from Verizon to confirm whether or not it has.
What else can I try?
AOL provides excellent guidelines for ISPs. Yes, AOL. I mention AOL because Verizon doesn’t offer a lot of helpful advice on its web site to assist senders.
- Carefully review AOL’s postmaster web site and follow their recommended best practices.
- Review Verizon’s brief help page regarding email deliverability.
- Install outbound spam filtering, track your users’ behaviour, and shut down abusive accounts in your own network.