Gmail “Message left on server” Message - What it Means   - 7,100 Views, 1 Comment

If you use Gmail, it is likely that on occasion you will get an email that says something like ‘Message left on server: “(no subject)”‘ or ‘Message left on server: “Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender”‘, or ‘Message left on server:” followed by some random subject.

The message, which comes from “Gmail Team “, will then invariably instruct you that the message “contained a virus or a suspicious attachment. It was therefore not fetched from your account” and that it has “been left on the server.”

Finally, it will advise you that if you wish to write to the sender, you should “just hit reply” and send the sender a message.

It is this last bit that makes the whole email seems questionable - is it a phishing trick? Should you really hit reply?

And, if it’s legitimate, why hit reply to send email to the quarantined sender, when the notice seems to come from Gmail or Google?

These are all good questions. However, the email is in fact legitimate, and is part of Gmail’s anti-virus efforts.

To answer the last question first, Google has set up their Gmail system to send these notices with the “reply-to” address set to the email address of the person who attempted to send you the presumably virus-laden email. So, if you hit reply in the notice from Gmail, your reply will indeed go back to the person who originated the email which has been quarantined by Gmail.

So no, despite that it may not look it, these emails really are from Google, they are not phishing attempts, and you can safely hit reply.

Here are some variations on the email notice:

From: “Gmail Team”
Date: August 9, 2007 11:06:09 PM PDT
Subject: Message left on server: “(no subject)”
Reply-To: “Shaffer Stanislaus”

The message “(no subject)” from Shaffer Stanislaus (dkacj at bigfoot dot com) contained a virus or a suspicious attachment. It was therefore not fetched from your account and has been left on the server.

If you wish to write to Shaffer, just hit reply and send Shaffer a message.

Thanks,

The Gmail Team

—

From: “Gmail Team”
Date: August 9, 2007 11:06:09 PM PDT
Subject: Message left on server: “cashed”
Reply-To: “Adalbert U. Bridges”

The message “cashed” from Adalbert U. Bridges (swrha at evolutionjobs.co dot uk) contained a virus or a suspicious attachment. It was therefore not fetched from your account and has been left on the server.

If you wish to write to Adalbert, just hit reply and send Adalbert a message.

Thanks,

The Gmail Team

—

From: “Gmail Team”
Date: August 9, 2007 9:39:35 PM PDT
Subject: Message left on server: “Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender”
Reply-To: “Mail Delivery System”

The message “Undelivered Mail Returned to Sender” from Mail Delivery System contained a virus or a suspicious attachment. It was therefore not fetched from your account and has been left on the server.

If you wish to write to Mail, just hit reply and send Mail a message.

Thanks,

The Gmail Team

—

From: “Gmail Team”
Date: August 9, 2007 9:39:32 PM PDT
Subject: Message left on server: “archive”
Reply-To: “Elliott Evelina”

The message “archive” from Elliott Evelina (bshz at trcsolutions dot com) contained a virus or a suspicious attachment. It was therefore not fetched from your account and has been left on the server.

If you wish to write to Elliott, just hit reply and send Elliott a message.

Thanks,

The Gmail Team