Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail or Live account users who have received email messages claiming that their passwords will expire soon are asked to delete the email messages. They should also not follow the instructions in the same email messages. This is because the email messages are phishing scams being sent by cyber criminals to steal the recipients' Microsoft or email account credentials. Remember, Microsoft or other legitimate companies will never send email messages to their users and ask them to respond with their usernames and passwords.
A Sample of a Microsoft Password Expiration Phishing Scam
Your Outlook Mailbox password will expire soon and we are migrating to Office 365. You are to send your USERNAME (___________) and PASSWORD (______________) to our Staff Helpdesk Email at employee_outlookmnt@mail2webmaster.com for immediate Validation/Migration. You may not be able to send or receive Emails if you fail to do this.
© 2017 This message is from Technical Support.
If recipients of the phishing scam respond with their account usernames and passwords, it will be sent to the cyber criminals behind the phishing scam. Once the cyber criminals receive the stolen usernames and passwords (credentials), they will use it to gain access to their victims' accounts, hijack them and use them fraudulently.
Microsoft users who have already been tricked by the phishing email messages are asked to change their Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail or Live account passwords immediately before their accounts are hijacked. Microsoft account users whose accounts have already been hijacked are asked to click here for help recovering or gaining back access their accounts.