"Microsoft Mailbox Storage Full" Phishing Scams
The "Microsoft Mailbox Storage Full" email message below, which claims that the recipients' Microsoft mailbox storage is full and they should click on a link to increase or add additional storage, is a phishing scam. The fake email message was created and sent by cyber-criminals to steal the recipients’ email account username and password. Once cyber-criminals have gotten their victims’ email account credentials, they will hijack their accounts and use them fraudulently. So, recipients of the fake email message and others like it should delete them and never attempt to click on the links or follow the instructions in them.
Recipients of the same message who have already followed the instructions in it should change their email account's password immediately before their accounts are hijacked and used fraudulently.
The "Microsoft Mailbox Storage Full" Phishing Scam
From: Microsoft account team [account-storage-noreply1@microsoftstore.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2018 12:39 PM
Subject: Re: Storage Full
Microsoft account
Mailbox Storage Full
We sent this message to notify you that your mailbox storage is full
95% Used
Starting from today 3/14/2018 your messages would fail to deliver until you visit below to increase your storage!
Increase
Thanks
Microsoft account team
One Microsoft Way.
Redmond, WA 98052, USA.
The link in the fake email message goes to a fake Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail or Live website. On the fake website, visitors will be asked to sign-in, if they attempt to do so, their email usernames and passwords will be sent to the cybercriminals responsible for the phishing email message. Once the cybercriminals have gotten their potential victims Microsoft account credentials, they will gain access to their accounts, hijack the accounts by changing passwords, and use the accounts fraudulently.
Remember, always go directly to your Microsoft mailbox by going to www.hotmail.com, www.outlook.com or, www.live.com verify if your mailbox is full, instead of clicking on a link in an email message. And, for those users whose accounts have already been hijacked, they can click here for help recovering their accounts.
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Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.