# Block customers and handle spam

Stop a customer, phone number, email address or IP from reaching your inbox, and clean up spam.

When someone keeps sending advertising or abuse, block them. A blocked customer's messages are still kept, but they go straight to **Spam**: they are not assigned to anyone, nobody is notified, and they do not count as waiting.

## Block a customer from a conversation

You need **Work** access to Customer Support.

1. Open the conversation in **Customer Support → Inbox**.
2. Click **⋯** (**More**) in the header.
3. Choose **Block this customer**.

![Block this customer in the More menu](https://hatang.dev/help/img/en/inbox/more-menu.webp)

"Blocked. Their next messages go to Spam." appears, and the conversation moves to **Spam** right away. The customer is added to the blocklist under their name.

The customer is not told that they are blocked. On the website chat they can still write; their messages simply land in **Spam**.

## Block a phone number, email address or IP

To block someone before they write, or on every channel they might use, add them to the blocklist. You need **Manage** access to Customer Support.

1. Go to **Customer Support → Distribution rules** and click **Blocked customers**.
2. Choose **Phone number**, **Email** or **IP address**.
3. Enter the value, for example `0912 345 678`, and a reason if you like.
4. Click **Block**.

![The blocklist](https://hatang.dev/help/img/en/inbox/blocklist.webp)

How entries match:

| Type | Matches |
|---|---|
| **Customer** | That one customer, added with **Block this customer** |
| **Phone number** | Any customer with that number. The last 9 digits are compared, so 0912 345 678, +84 912 345 678 and 912345678 are the same number |
| **Email** | Any customer with that address, whatever the capitals |
| **IP address** | Website visitors connecting from that address |

Click **Unblock** to remove an entry. New messages from that customer are routed and notified normally again; conversations already in **Spam** stay there until you restore them.

## Spam without blocking

To move a single conversation out of the way without blocking the person, choose **⋯** (**More**) → **Mark as spam**, or tick conversations in the list and click **Spam**. Their next message does not come back on its own.

Emails that fail sender authentication are marked as spam automatically.

## Review and restore spam

Choose **Spam** in the status menu above the conversation list. Open a conversation and click **⋯** → **Restore to inbox**, or tick several and click **Restore**. A restored conversation goes back to the list; restoring does not unblock the customer.

> [!NOTE]
> Blocking works on Ha Tang's side only. To stop someone on the platform itself, also block them in Zalo, Facebook or the other app.