In the August 24th newsletter titled “To Open or Not Open the Document, That is the Question”, we discussed those emails that you receive but should be cautious about opening, referring to the Docu-Sign emails. Today, we will discuss those emails sent from Hotmail or Microsoft, asking you to verify your account.If you and/or your business use a Microsoft Exchange account (local Exchange or Office 365), you will not receive an email that asks for you to verify your account. This includes personal Office 365 accounts. Microsoft does not send emails of this type to its customers.
On October 13th, one of my customers received an email, identifying that the Hotmail accounts were undergoing maintenance and need account verification.
If you clicked on the link (Confirm Your Email Address), you will be redirected to this website.
This is the body of the website. It looks normal but don’t enter any data. If you look at the address of the website you have opened, you will notice that it does not state “Microsoft” anywhere in the address line. This is what opens:
Two items to notice here. 1) The website does not show https://, which means that it is not a secure site, and 2) the wording to the left of the site states “Not Secure”. When either of these items are on a web page, do not enter any personal information, including the attempt to log into the site and entering your password.
So, let’s go back to the original email message. Three items to notice here.
First, in the From Line, the copyright symbol never comes before the name of the business and would follow the name “Microsoft”. Second, when you look at your email messages from people you know, you will see their name and just the email address. It won’t show “mailto” before the email address. It will just show the email address. Lastly, look at the subject. If the term “Email Administration” was a Registered name, the Registered symbol would be showing (letter R in a circle), not in parentheses ( ).
So, it’s important to inspect emails that appear to come from legitimate sources. There are several email scams that are trying to gain access to your email accounts and gather personal information from your bank & credit card accounts.
Also, if you are one of our clients for whom we provide Office 365 business email, you will never receive any messages from anyone other than myself or one of my team members as we provide support for your email service. So if you get a message from Microsoft or Outlook, please delete it.
Elite Networking & Consulting offers their business clients a cloud-based email product called Microsoft Office 365, that will allow you to access your email anytime and from anywhere, even if your office building does not have power or internet service. You can access your email from your cell phone, tablet, iPad, or any computer, with only 2 requirements: The device must be powered on and must be connected to the internet or cellular network.
If you would like additional information on the Office 365 product, please contact us at 855-767-9685, ext. 700 or send an email to service1@elite-nac.com.
Source: Elite Networking & Consulting
