This latest phishing email purported to come from Microsoft looked legitimate, but only at first glance. The title was convincing, logo looked OK, product name was familiar – Microsoft 365 Copilot, footer boilerplate seemed accurate, but then I started looking at all of the little details that revealed that this was a scam:
- From address: microsoft-reply@microsoft365update.onmicrosoft.com
- To address: not my address
- Spelling mistakes: Question’s
- Capitalization: wa
- Button link: not @microsoft.com
- No personalization: Daniel Payne
- No account number
Yes, the malicious digital thieves are out there sending emails every day, trying to get us to click the button or link and end up revealing our real login credentials. Be alert, stay vigilant, only click a link when you are 100% certain. A real email from Microsoft would include my First and Last name, have perfect grammar and spelling, use only links with @microsoft.com. There are also some helpful support forums at Microsoft that report phishing attempts like this one. Once you determine that an email is really just a phishing scam, then you can safely delete the email, and continue your email for the day.
Read about other phishing emails to learn how to spot them more quickly next time that you are reading emails.