MSN users beware! The email message below, which claims a request to terminate the recipients' MSN accounts is a phishing scam sent by cybercriminals, and not by Microsoft. The phishing or fake email message has been created and sent 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. Therefore, Microsoft account users who receive the same email messages are asked to delete them and should not follow the instructions in them.
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 "MSN Account Shutdown Request" Phishing Email Scam
From: Mail Service <followfollow121@outlook.com>
Date: October 24, 2017 at 3:45:31 AM EDT
Subject: AS REQUESTED
FIND FINAL PROCESS PROCEDURE TO SHUTDOWN ACCOUNT AS REQUESTED BY YOU YESTERDAY IN ATTACHMENT.
KINDLY LET US KNOW WHY YOU DECIDED TO LEAVE MSN SERVICE SO WE CAN BETTER OUR SERVICES AND SERVE YOU BETTER
Sent from OUTLOOK TEAM
MICROSOFT ACCOUNT TERMINATION
Dear User,
We received a message from you requesting for your MICROSOFT account termination, we are not certain if you made this
request or someone did on your behalf, please ignore this message if the request was from you. It will take 24 hours for your account to be disabled and deleted from outlook email server.
(Note: All mails in your inbox, spam, draft, and sent items would be deleted, and access to your account would be denied.)
Click on the cancel request and sign in if the message wasn't from you.
Please click here to cancel
We are always looking to improve your online experience and security.
Thank you!
© 2017 Microsoft
Microsoft users should never click on a link to sign into their accounts, they should instead, go directly to https://account.microsoft.com/ and sign-in from there. If there is something that needs to be done to their accounts, they will be notified after signing in. This is will prevent Microsoft users from visiting phishing websites disguised as legitimate Microsoft website that steal account credentials.