Fraudsters are constantly pushing out new scams, and one of the most recent has been an email purporting to be from Microsoft.
The message tells the recipient that they need to buy more cloud storage space, in order to “protect images and data”. The recipient is then enticed by a “generous discount” and asked to click on a link which, in fact, goes to a phishing site.
As always, it’s really important to make sure that everyone in your business is on their guard against email scams.
Signs to look out for may include:
- The sender’s email address is unrecognisable.
- The greeting is impersonal – it excludes your name and may say “Dear Customer” or just “Hi”
- Logos or other images are poor quality / pixelated.
- Links take you to a website which isn’t the legitimate site of the organisation concerned. (Test this by hovering your cursor over the link.)
- The wording contains poor grammar or spelling and / or is trying too hard to sound official.
- A request for personal data and / or financial information.
- An instruction that you must take action urgently.
If in any doubt, refer the email to your IT provider.
You can report scam emails by forwarding them to report@phishing.gov.uk