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Turn on Wrong Recipients Detection

Wrong Recipients Detection holds an outbound recipient whose address looks like a typo of someone the sender regularly emails, then lets the sender choose whether to send or stop it. It's off by default. An admin turns it on for your organization in two steps: connect Mailbox Access, then turn on the setting.

Step 1: Connect Mailbox Access

Wrong Recipients Detection learns who each sender emails from their Sent folder, so it needs Mailbox Access to your Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 mailboxes. Until Mailbox Access is connected, the Wrong Recipients Detection setting shows "Requires mailbox access" and can't be turned on.

Follow the steps in Connect Mailbox Access for Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. When the Mailbox Access card under Settings > Account shows Connected or Not Verified, continue to step 2.

Step 2: Turn on Wrong Recipients Detection

  1. Log in to your Paubox dashboard
  2. Navigate to Settings > Outbound Security
  3. Find Wrong Recipients Detection and turn on the toggle

Wrong Recipients Detection starts checking outbound email for every sender in your organization once it's turned on.

NOTE:If the toggle is grayed out, Mailbox Access isn't connected yet, or the page is still checking the connection. Wait a moment for the page to finish loading. If the toggle is still grayed out, go back to step 1. NOTE

Respond to a held recipient

When Paubox holds a recipient, the sender receives an email notification that shows the held address and offers two links: one to send the message and one to stop it.

  1. Open the notification email and review the held address
  2. Click the link for the action you want

The action happens as soon as the link opens. There's no second confirmation step, so read the address carefully and click only the link you mean to use. Avoid using your browser's back button on the page that opens.

If the sender doesn't respond within 5 minutes, the held message is sent by default. To stop it, use the stop link before then.

Admins can also find held recipients in Outbound Quarantine under the Wrong recipient category.

If you see a "Too many attempts" message

The page that opens from the notification email accepts a limited number of requests in a short period, and people on the same office network share that limit. If you see this message, wait a minute and try the link again.

If you get several notifications for one invitation

Each change to a meeting is sent as a separate message, so a held recipient on an invitation can generate a notification for every update. Respond to each notification you receive.

If a correct recipient was held

Wrong Recipients Detection holds a recipient whose address closely resembles one the sender has emailed before. Occasionally that's a real, intended person, most often when two colleagues have very similar addresses, so a legitimate message to one looks like a near-typo of the other. When that happens, use the send link in the notification to deliver the message. If the same correct recipient keeps getting held, contact Paubox support.

Note: If your organization uses a security tool that automatically opens links in incoming email to scan them, that tool could act on a notification link before the sender does. Contact Paubox support before turning on Wrong Recipients Detection.