I recently received an email supposedly coming from Microsoft. However, it is clearly a phishing email purely designed to entice users into giving up their Microsoft Account login details.
It’s also a prime example of common phishing traits:
- The “Microsoft” heading has been inserted using bright blue text in an attempt to make it appear more official
- The generic address “Hi outlook User” is a dead giveaway. Any legitimate email will almost certainly address the recipient by name
- The URLs obfuscated behind the embedded links are identical, both leading to a fake Microsoft account login page
- Note the attempt to create a sense of urgency: “Failure to accept our new terms might lead to account deactivation“
- The generic signature. Companies, such as Microsoft, will generally insert an official signature
BOTTOM LINE:
I cannot remember ever receiving such an obvious phishing email. As I said earlier, this one includes pretty much all of the common phishing traits and is a prime example of what to look out for.
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Hi Jim. I keep receiving a different Microsoft Outlook also about Mail Service but it lands in my Junk folder. Sadly that folder was deleted on Sunday, Mindblower!
One glaring error, although not apparent to some, is that Microsoft will NEVER, EVER make a grammatical error – “outlook” is a dead giveaway. Microsoft will always use a capital letter to start the name, as in “Outlook”. After all, in this case, it is a proper noun.
Good point Harry, well spotted.