E-Mails from "Microsoft Account Team" saying an unauthorized Account Login has been detected

Ken429 · Dec 31, 2022

I have received several E-Mails from the "Microsoft Account Team" in the last week or two saying an unauthorized Russian is trying to log into my Microsoft Account! The E-Mails end up in my Outlook Junk folder. Is this someone trying to get me to reply with a valid E-Mail address or is it real? One would think that if it was a valid Microsoft issue Outlook would not send it to the Junk folder?! But then.... Is anybody else getting this E-Mail? I will not respond to the E-Mail - if it is valid - is there a Microsoft phone number to call to get it resolved?

RFS · Dec 31, 2022

Seems pretty obvious the links at the bottom are fake - none of them mention microsoft.com for example.

TairikuOkami · Dec 31, 2022

Fake. But you can login to your MSA and check the activity, just to be sure.

Code:

https://account.live.com/Activity

Note that links and sender in emails can be faked, unless the email is displayed in the plain text. For example:

https://account.live.com/Activity

Stll even that email clearly wants you to reply to some random email and the supposed MS team link is a random URL.

Ken429 · Dec 31, 2022

Thanks for the information.

I will "Block" the sender and see if Outlook will kill the E-Mails before they get to the Junk Folder. I also went to the Sign in to your Microsoft account site and made sure the bad guys were being denied access. Looks like my E-Mail address is popular around the China and Russian hacker's world!

davewin11 · Dec 31, 2022

Ken429 said:
I have received several E-Mails from the "Microsoft Account Team" in the last week or two saying an unauthorized Russian is trying to log into my Microsoft Account! The E-Mails end up in my Outlook Junk folder. Is this someone trying to get me to reply with a valid E-Mail address or is it real? One would think that if it was a valid Microsoft issue Outlook would not send it to the Junk folder?! But then.... Is anybody else getting this E-Mail? I will not respond to the E-Mail - if it is valid - is there a Microsoft phone number to call to get it resolved?

I always read emails in plain text. If I want more then I can get the full content with one click.

Dave

Winuser · Dec 31, 2022

By email or phone, there's always someone trying to scam us. My last scam was an email that was thanking me for my purchase of a big screen tv. The shipping address was an address in Hawaii. They included a link to use if I thought anything was in error.

Bastet · Dec 31, 2022

I would double check by logging into your Microsoft account & checking for any unknown log ins. I would also recommend turning on 2FA authentication (if you haven’t already).