Online Threat Alerts (OTA) - Alerting you to scams and frauds.
Scamming - Fraud
The phishing and fake Windows Account Team email message below: "Account Activity - We Received Your Request to Close Your Account," is an attempt by cyber-criminals to steal Microsoft Hotmail, Outlook or Live users' credentials and personal information, which the cyber-criminals will use to hijack the accounts.
Subject: Account ActivityDate: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 14:54:22 +0000Dear User,We received your request to close your account. If this request was sent by you then you do not need to take any further action and your account will be closed within 48hours. But if this request was not sent by you, kindly click on the cancel link below to cancel the request and sign into your account again to stop your account from being closed down.CancelThanks,The Windows account team
Subject: Account ActivityDate: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 14:54:22 +0000
Dear User,
We received your request to close your account. If this request was sent by you then you do not need to take any further action and your account will be closed within 48hours. But if this request was not sent by you, kindly click on the cancel link below to cancel the request and sign into your account again to stop your account from being closed down.
Cancel
Thanks,
The Windows account team
The link in the fake email message goes to a fake web page created by cyber-criminals on a compromised website, to trick their potential victims into entering their username, password and personal information on it. If the potential victims enter their information on the fake website, it will be sent to the cyber-criminals behind the phishing email message, who will use it to hijack the victims’ accounts and use them fraudulently.
Never click on a link in an email message to sign into your email account. If you have already clicked on the link and followed the instructions on the fake and malicious web page, please change your password immediately.
If you are unable to change your password, please click here to report it to Microsoft.
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Here is another scam: "From: Rosa Solomon Sent: Monday, November 14, 2016 11:06 PM Subject: MICROSOFT ACCOUNT TEAM...We Received Your Request To Close Your Account VERIFY THIS EMAIL ADDRESS TO AVOID IMMEDIATE CLOSURE We have recently confirmed that different computers have logged onto your account and multiple password errors have been entered. We are hereby suspending your account; as it has been used for fraudulent purposes. Now we need you to reconfirm your account information to us. Click your reply tab, fill in the columns below and send it back to us or your email account will be suspended permanently and you will not be able to create new e-mail to send or receive again until your reconfirm your account information."