Microsoft Purchase Scam

Microsoft Purchase Scam: a reader asks…

I received an email from Microsoft that looks real, has all the right links, etc. It says I purchased a global Microsoft 365 Business Premium product, which I haven’t. I’m not sure why I got this, it looks fishy. What should I do?

This is a scam, albeit one that probably uses a legitimate email service provider (e.g., microsoft.com). You should report it to Microsoft so they can block the user from their email system. The best way to do this is to create a new email and address it to phish@office365.microsoft.com and attach the scam email to your message. You can attach it by dragging the email from your inbox list into the body of the email message you’re drafting.

This is much better than simply forwarding the email to Microsoft. By attaching the email, Microsoft will get the hidden header information which contains a lot of detail about where the message came from and how it was delivered to you. Good clues to find out the real sender and block them from continuing to scam people – at least through that email account.

Once you’ve reported the email to Microsoft, you can move that email to your spam folder and mark the sender as a spammer. For anyone receiving receipts via email for things they did not purchase, don’t assume the vendor simply made a mistake, assume there’s an active scammer trying to get you to make a mistake. What might those mistakes look like?

1. replying to the email and disputing the purchase,
2. Calling the number on the email to dispute the purchase, or
3. otherwise trying to contact the person who sent you the receipt.

These all sound like reasonable things to do, but in this day and age of advanced scam techniques, the last thing you want to do is engage with the scammer in any way. Once you start communicating with them, they will get you to give them information about you, and they’ll exploit anything to get you to either send them money or give them access to your money. Plenty of smart people get scammed every day simply because the scammers know psychological tricks to prey upon honest people. The best way to not fall for these tricks is to not engage with the scammer.