Microsoft Outlook or Hotmail users, who have received email messages like the one the one below, which claim the recipients need to upgrade or update their accounts in order to prevent their incoming emails from being placed on hold and then permanently disabled, should delete them. The is because the email messages are phishing scams being sent by cybercriminals to their potential victims. The phishing email messages are being 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.
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 cyber criminals.
Remember, Microsoft Hotmail or Outlook is a Web-based email provider, this means that users do not need to do any forms of updates, upgrades or changes to their accounts because their accounts are in the cloud. This is why we ask Microsoft Outlook or Hotmail users to delete all email messages which claim they should upgrade or update their accounts.
A Sample of the Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail Email Account Upgrade or Update Phishing Scam
From: EMAIL MANAGEMENT TEAM <sarah_22@live.com.mx>
Sent: July 4, 2017 3:17 AM
To: noreply@outlook.com
Subject: (Closing procedure in process) Be warned
Dear user,
We noticed that some of your incoming emails was placed on-hold due to you are still operating on our old version.
Take a minute to update your account below to enjoy our full security protection.
Continue and update
Note: Failure to update your account on or before 1st July will lead to permanent disable of your account from our database.
Thank you
Copyright © 2017 Member 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.