Warning! - "Microsoft Deleting all Unused Accounts to Free up Space" is a Phishing Scam
Microsoft users who have received emails claiming that Microsoft is deleting all unused accounts to free up space are asked to delete them. This is because the emails are fakes or phishing scams that have 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 "Microsoft Deleting all Unused Accounts to Free up Space" Phishing Scam
From: Mail Admin - mmackensen@mistickconstruction.com
Date: 23 Sep 2017 4:46 a.m.
Subject: Notice attached.
Due to recent online security concerns and increased traffic on our database, we are deleting all Unused Accounts to free up space. If you still want to maintain your account, we require you to verify that your Account is still active within 72 Hours.
Failure to do so will result to the permanent Termination of your Mail Account and you will not be able to recover any of your mails (Inbox / Sent / Draft / AllFolders) stored on our Servers.
CLICK HERE TO VERIFY YOUR ACCOUNT
Best Regards,
The Microsoft Accounts Team.
This email can’t receive replies. To give us feedback on this alert, click here. For more information, visit the Microsoft Account Help
Center.
You receive this mandatory email service announcement to update you about The important Changes to your Microsoft Product or Account.
2017 Microsoft Inc., Corporate Headquarters, 1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA, 98052.
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.
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Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.