According to this email, which purports to be from the Microsoft Security Team, my email account is about to be disconnected.
Supposedly, I have failed to resolve errors on my mail and I am required to click a link to fix the issue and thus avoid disconnection.
All rather ironic given that I manage the domain and email address that supposedly has the problem and it has precisely zero to do with Microsoft.
In fact, the email is just a rather crude phishing attempt designed to steal my email account login details. It was certainly not sent by Microsoft.
Clicking the “Resolve Issue Now” button opens a website that asks you to enter your email address and email account password. These credentials can be nabbed by online crooks and used to hijack the targeted email account.
Once the scammers have gained access, they can use the compromised account to distribute scam, spam and malware emails. Often they can use the same login details to take control of linked services such as online file storage and app stores.
Email phishing scams like this are very common.
A screenshot of the scam email:
Transcript:
Microsoft Fix Security
Hi, hoax-slayer,
Your account of hoax-slayer@hoax-slayer.com will be disconnected from sending or receiving mails from other users. because you failed to resolve errors on your mail. You need to resolve the errors or your account will be disconnected.
Follow the instruction below to resolve now.RESOLVE ISSUE NOW
Sincerely,
hoax-slayer.com Regards.
©Microsoft Security Team.
Importance Notice
After considerable thought and with an ache in my heart, I have decided that the time has come to close down the Hoax-Slayer website.These days, the site does not generate enough revenue to cover expenses, and I do not have the financial resources to sustain it going forward.
Moreover, I now work long hours in a full-time and physically taxing job, so maintaining and managing the website and publishing new material has become difficult for me.
And finally, after 18 years of writing about scams and hoaxes, I feel that it is time for me to take my fingers off the keyboard and focus on other projects and pastimes.
When I first started Hoax-Slayer, I never dreamed that I would still be working on the project all these years later or that it would become such an important part of my life. It's been a fantastic and engaging experience and one that I will always treasure.
I hope that my work over the years has helped to make the Internet a little safer and thwarted the activities of at least a few scammers and malicious pranksters.
A Big Thank You
I would also like to thank all of those wonderful people who have supported the project by sharing information from the site, contributing examples of scams and hoaxes, offering suggestions, donating funds, or helping behind the scenes.I would especially like to thank David White for his tireless contribution to the Hoax-Slayer Facebook Page over many years. David's support has been invaluable, and I can not thank him enough.
Closing Date
Hoax-Slayer will still be around for a few weeks while I wind things down. The site will go offline on May 31, 2021. While I will not be publishing any new posts, you can still access existing material on the site until the date of closure.Thank you, one and all!
Brett Christensen,
Hoax-Slayer
