Scam Emails

Scam emails trying to gain access to you account are a problem that business and home users face daily. This is an extract from an email we received ourselves for a personal account:

Microsoft

Dear User,

We noticed that your email have been disconnected on 11/25/2023

We urge you to re-confirm if your account is still active to officially secure it now.

Re-Confirm Now To Update Account

Copyright Microsoft(C) 2023 All rights reserved.

Thanks for choosing microsoft.

Please do not reply to this automatically generated email.

Outlook.com⁠ Supporter

When we inspect the link we can see it going to:

 “https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQTABwVTXtNw3e3Xw962eWCasfESVI74O4sCJntBUI-5LCvSqY6NyNSZQbYIjcDISLEYzQgUVGL-m8A/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000”

This is clearly not a Microsoft URL and now flagged as an instant scam. To the unaware these emails are a huge problem. People are tied to their email accounts in the modern world and will do anything to try and keep them.

There are several safety tips from when dealing with emails like this.

1. Never click a link from an email asking you to verify or sign into your account (no matter how genuine it looks). Instead, close the email and then open a new browser window and go to the account you are no concerned about. Sign into the account in the normal way and check to see if there are any messages in your notifications.
2. Remember that companies like Microsoft, eBay, etc. will never ask you to sign in with your password in an email. They may ask you to reset a password (point 1 for this process remains in place).
3. Use an app on your phone like Microsoft authenticator, to secure your account with second method of access.
4. Use security software to help prevent emails like this even arriving. Security tools can also prevent you opening certain links in emails if you accidently click the click, by spotting scam websites. Nothing is 100% effective here but security tools are an essential part of the digital world.
5. Ask a friend. This is possibly the most important one for us. We look after many retired clients that were not brought up with computers. Many only started using computers part way through their adult life. These guys call us whenever they are uncertain for advice on what to do. Sometime that reassurance is all they need.

The list here could go on but the most important thing is to always be vigilant. We all want to live in a happy and friendly world. This is not the world we have. With cyber crime and confidence tricks being so prevalent, all we can do is assume the worst and take steps to prevent us falling foul on and cons. It is not that scary, once you have learned to spot the scams, it becomes second nature, for everything else – we are just a phone call away.