Phishing Email re:Windows Live - Anyone else?

Dara Robinson

Just a note, Gmail missed this and its a Phishing mail. Its well done and will get by most filters for the moment until they compensate.

Just a few mins ago I got an email from postmaster@windowslivemail.com saying the following:

Hello, ***********@gmail.com.

Thank you for signing up for a Windows Live ID. Please follow the instructions below to confirm that you signed up for this account, or to cancel the account if you did not sign up.

CONFIRM ACCOUNT
To help prevent unauthorized account creation, we need you to confirm your e-mail address. We will use this e-mail address to send you important messages about your account. Also, some Windows Live ID sites and services may require a confirmed e-mail address.

To confirm this e-mail address, select and copy the following link. Open a browser and paste the link in the address bar. Press Enter or Return on your keyboard and follow the instructions that display.

[Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]


CANCEL ACCOUNT

If you didn't sign up for the account with this e-mail address and want to cancel the account, select and copy the following link. Open a browser and paste the link in the address bar. Press Enter or Return on your keyboard and follow the instructions that display.

[Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]

IMPORTANT

To help keep your personal information safe, Microsoft recommends that you never enter your credentials (e-mail and password) at a site you reached by clicking a link in an email. Instead of clicking the link, copy the address and paste it into the address bar in your web browser. While we may send e-mail that contains links, the links are provided for convenience only.


Windows Live ID is committed to protecting your privacy. We encourage you to review the Privacy Statement at
[Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]

For more information, go to the Windows Live ID home page at
[Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]

To request more help, contact Customer Support at
[Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]


Thank you,

Windows Live Team

NOTE:
Please do not reply to this message, which was sent from an unmonitored e-mail
address. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

And then I received

Hello ***********@gmail.com,

Thank you for signing up for a Windows Live ID.

Use the e-mail address (***********@gmail.com) and password you provided during sign-up to sign in at any site or service where you see the Windows Live ID logo.

This e-mail message contains important information on how to use your account, including what to do if you forget your password. Please save or print a copy so you can refer to it later.

TO SIGN IN
Click the sign in link at any participating site, and then type your e-mail address and password in the sign in box.

You can also sign in with a single click, by choosing to save your e-mail address and password on your computer when you sign in.

TO SIGN OUT
Click the sign-out link at any participating site to sign out of all Windows Live ID sites.

OTHER IMPORTANT LINKS

You can sign into Account Services from the Windows Live ID home page at:

[Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]

At Account Services you can see more useful information, and view or change your profile.

IF YOU FORGET YOUR PASSWORD
You can reset your password at Account Services. We strongly recommend choosing a question and a secret answer, and an alternate e-mail address where you can have Windows Live ID send you a password reset message. To create these password safeguards, go to the Credentials page of Account Services.

To reset your password, go to Account Services, click Forgot Your Password, and follow the instructions on the screen.

Windows Live ID is committed to protecting your privacy. We encourage you to review the Privacy Statement at

[Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]

If you have questions regarding the Privacy Statement, send an e-mail message to passpriv@microsoft.com.

To request more help, contact Customer Support at [Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]

Thank you for using Windows Live ID!

Windows Live Team

NOTE:
Please do not reply to this message, which was sent from an unmonitored e-mail address. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.

Normally I am good at spotting these emails. I tend to spot them a mile away but this bloody thing looks legit and only for it came in on a dormant email address I only use if I think I might get spammed I might have actually clicked on it thinking someone was trying to hack my msn account or something like that soi I could pre-empt them. I Google'd the email address and it came up spam central.

Well 1st I am wondering is anyone else receiving these and if there are any other current variations I need to keep an eye out for and well the 2nd one is more a warning to most people. Beware. I was impressed when it got by Gmail's systems as they are normally spot on. In years now I only get 1 or 2 spam emails into my Inbox about every 6 months and I have yet to find a non spam email in my spam box.

---

Ok I'm impressed. I just received (while writing this post) another Phishing email. And this one is from Xbox Live and its impressive. And I mean impressive. In fact when you google the info it took me a few pages of searches to find the full story.

This one comes with

From billing@microsoft.com (A Legit MS Email address btw)

Dear ****** **********,

This mail is confirmation that you successfully purchased Xbox Live 12 mo. Gold Membership on 20 July 2010. Here is a description of your purchase:

For only €59.99 VAT included, your 12-month Xbox Live Gold Membership brings you the best in gaming and entertainment. You can invite friends from all over to connect and play along with online multiplayer, watch live and on demand TV from Sky and live and on demand football on FOOT+ from CANAL+ – even connect with friends on Facebook®, and follow and post Tweets on Twitter. Plus, as a Gold member, you enjoy exclusive Deals of the Week, and special sneak-peak content. Xbox LIVE Gold Membership is your connection to more games, more entertainment, more fun. Your membership will automatically renew to an annual membership at the then current price, unless you change your renewal or cancel before your membership ends. Pricing details can be viewed in the Account Management area of your gamer profile. For information about changing or canceling your membership and your membership refund policy, go to [Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it].

Did you know that with Xbox LIVE® Marketplace on the Web, you can now buy Microsoft Points, purchase games, download game demos, and rent videos directly on Xbox.com to use on your console? All you need is a Silver or Gold account, an Xbox 360 with Internet access and a storage device, and you're ready to get points, queue up game and video downloads to your Xbox 360 and more, all from the convenience of your PC. You can even renew your subscription and easily manage your account online. Just visit this site: [Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]. See you on Xbox LIVE!

Thank you for using Microsoft Online Services.

Xbox LIVE Team

Note: Please do not respond to this message.
For complete billing information for your account, go to [Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it].

Click here to update your email address and communication preferences: [Link removed to ensure no one clicks on it]
Form: 21

Now how exactly this one is being done I have no idea but it looks very good. However, it is bull**** as I dont even own an Xbox and MS have none of my details, not even my email address and while I have some products I never register them and most certainly not with my normal email addy.

See attached picture for the Xbox email



So this is what I am wondering, is Microsoft being targeted by the Phishing feckers? Cause 3 Phishing emails in 30 mins all different MS products cant just be a coincidence... can it?

dr.bollocko

Moved from AH.

Snowbat

Can't say without seeing the raw source of the emails, but these *could* be legit emails where someone has a very similar gmail address to yours and signed up to both services using your gmail address. It happens.

I see this kind of thing regularly in one of our Hotmail accounts (we were first to register what turned out to be a popular username). Someone signs up for something forgetting to add whatever numbers or modification their own Hotmail username has, discovers it didn't work, then (typically) tries to do a password reset on our account - we get the confirmation emails for whatever they signed up for and the password reset instructions. Two different women in Greece used our Hotmail address to sign up for Facebook. A guy in London used it to register on a gay dating site. Another person with the sirname Stupak in Justice, Illinois has used it to sign up at Chicago Tribune, American Airlines, and several Real Estate sites.

old_aussie

Hi,

I signed up for a Windows Live ID and received the almost same email you have received.

Two emails, second one about 1 min after the first, just like you did.

softdancomputer

That doesn't looks like phishing or spam, it looks like someone has used (by mistake or with intention) your gmail account to create a live and xbox.com account.
The links you have removed are legit links, i cannot see any link to a malware site in the pic.

alank00

I recieved this earlier today while i was looking through emails on my phone. It looks completely legit, but as i thought about it....it seemed that something wasn't right. When i came home i looked up the senders email and saw that some people were wondering the same thing. Thats when i remembered hotmail will not send you an email like this. When you reset your password, they will ask you to answer a security question(maybe two i think) then you will have the option to change the existing password. Anyways, this is the email that i got (removed links for obvious reasons)......


Sender: postmaster@windowslivemail.com

Did you request a password reset for your Windows Live account (account name)?

If you requested this password reset, go here:



If you didn't make this request, use this link to cancel it:




Thank you,
Windows Live

Microsoft respects your privacy. To learn more, please read our online privacy statement:

Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052

countknickers

That Actually looks like the case.

It looks like whoever just signed up their Xbox a/c and for a Windows live ID has mistakenly signed it up to your email address and is now having trouble logging into their account. hence why they have asked for a password reset.

Odaise Gaelach

Dara Robinson wrote: »

Just a note, Gmail missed this and its a Phishing mail. Its well done and will get by most filters for the moment until they compensate.

So this is what I am wondering, is Microsoft being targeted by the Phishing feckers? Cause 3 Phishing emails in 30 mins all different MS products cant just be a coincidence... can it?

Actually, the links themselves would most likely tell us. If they're really Microsoft links the domain would probably be live.com.

I'm intrigued... send me the links in a PM. I just want to take a look at them.

EDIT: Hang on, I just saw the image now. D'oh!

I do know billing.microsoft.com is genuine. However it is possible that the text for the links are different to the links themselves, like how http://www.live.com will bring you to a different address. That sort of thing. I'd have to see the e-mail itself in order to be sure.