The email message below with subject: "Microsoft Account Login Error," which claims that there has been series of illegal login attempts on the recipients' Hotmail, Outlook, Windows Live email accounts from different IP locations, is a phishing scam created to steal Microsoft Hotmail/Live/Outlook user names and passwords. The email message was not sent by Microsoft, but by cyber-criminals, whose intentions are to gain access to the potential victims' email accounts and use them for malicious or fraudulent purposes.
The Microsoft Email Phishing Scam
Subject: Microsoft Account Login Error
Microsoft account
Security alert
We've discovered series of illegal attempts on your mail account from different IP locations Hotmail, Outlook,Windows Live Messenger. Please this is for your own safety to avoid your account closed, you will have to verify your account by Sign In to verify yourself with the changes you've made.
Thanks,
The Microsoft account team
The link in the email message goes to a fake Outlook website in attempt to trick the potential victims into entering their usernames and passwords on it. If the potential victims enter their Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail, Live usernames and passwords on the fake website, it will be sent to the cyber-criminals behind the email scam, who will use the information to hijack the victims' accounts.
Therefore, online users who have received email messages like the one above, should go directly to their email accounts instead of clicking on the links in the email messages. If there is anything wrong with their accounts, it will be shown to them after signing into.
Now, online users who were tricked by phishing scams, should change their Hotmail/Live/Outlook passwords immediately. Online users who are unable to, please click here to report it to Microsoft.
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