"Your Micro-soft Accοunt has Reached an Upgrade" Phishing Scam
Microsoft users who have received fake email messages like the one below, which claim they need to upgrade their accounts due to a recent security incident online are asked to delete them. The fake email messages have been created by cyber criminals 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 cyber criminals 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 cyber criminals.
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 "Your Micro-soft Accοunt Has Reached An Upgrade" Phishing Scam
From: MSNsupport Team - microscurity@naver.com
Sent: July 17, 2017 10:02 AM
To: microsoft-verification@outlook.services-inc.com
Subject: ❶ Your Micrο-soft Accοunt Has Reached An Upgrade
E-mail Upgrade
We are asking users to upgrade due to recent security incidents online.
This is for your own safety to continue using your account, click the Update now button below.
Update Nοw
To opt out or change where you receive security notifications, click here.
Nοte: Please do nοt ignore this email to avοid your account been closed
Thanks,
The Micrοsοft account team.
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. This is will prevent Microsoft users from visiting phishing websites disguised as legitimate Microsoft website that steals account credentials.
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Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.