"Account Update" Microsoft Team Phishing Scam

The email message below with the subject: "Account update," which claims the recipients will be blocked from sending and receiving emails if they do not confirm their accounts within 24 hours, is a phishing scam sent by cybercriminals, and not by Microsoft. The fake email message was created by cybercriminals to frighten and trick the recipients into clicking on the link within it. The link goes to a phishing website or a fake website looking like Microsoft’s website, created by cybercriminals to trick potential victims into entering their Microsoft account usernames and passwords on it, by asking them to sign in. But, any attempts to sign into the fake website, will result in the victims’ Microsoft account usernames and passwords being sent to cybercriminals.

Once cybercriminals have gotten their potential victims’ account credentials (usernames and passwords), they will use it to hijack their Microsoft accounts and use them fraudulently. Therefore, recipients of the phishing email message (see below) who were tricked into clicking on the link within it and have attempted to sign into the phishing or fake website that they were taken, are asked to change their Microsoft account passwords immediately, before they are hijacked and used fraudulently by cybercriminals.

The Phishing Microsoft "Account Update" Email Message

Subject: Account Update (c)
From: Mail Service (mailnoreplyupdate@norep131. onmicrosoft.com
Dear User
You would be blocked from sending and receiving emails if not confirmed within 24hrs Please Click here to keep your account update
Thanks
The Microsoft Team
© 2016 Outlook Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.Account Update (c)