Hotmail password reset email ?

[Wingdesigner]

I just got a message purportedly from Microsoft Customer Care saying they received my request for password change and to click on a link to either verify or another link to not change. I tried cutting and pasting the link but then when I typed in the account name I got a message saying no such account or something. I did not type in a password! Is this a phishing scam? It does appear to be from Microsoft, i.e. the header appears correct, and I have the same email on every MS account. I've only looked at two of them. What gives? Anyone else get these emails? Have I just opened up my 'puter? :o

[Pennylee]

Sounds like a scam to me. Apparently scammers are able to create
all kinds of perfect letterheads from banks and other institutions, and those of
us who started off life in trusting mode and who find it hard to change are
continuing to be caught out from time to time.

My philosophy would be : if it looks like a phishing scam, it probably is - so delete it. Beware of any emails that quite out of the blue ask you to click on a return address, and delete them smartly. *

*Before deleting, I report spam to a special address given by my ISP, and at the same time
to a government department. If it is a phishing scam, I send to these
two addresses and to another Western Australian anti scam department.
To do this, I had to learn the simple method of displaying the inside
of the email. (This is needed for technical reasons, and is actually quite fascinating in some cases, with its attempts to block out detection, using
either masses of letters and symbols or in some cases long literary quotations.) So sometimes one email from me is attacking the sender
in three directions. From the grim set of my mouth as I do this, anyone can see that I hope to achieve at least some success.

For whatever reason, my spam emails have greatly reduced in number.

[Wingdesigner]

*&$@%#@^^^, #!!!><}(*##!!!
(Cussing & swearing)
I did report it to the ISP as phishing scam, and it was not on all my accounts as suspected, just the two I use the most (of course). So I'm in the process of changing my password properly, through an address I know to be my ISP. However, MS has sent me (verified to be them) emails saying they were changing the look of things (which I don't like, but then again I'm change-resistant) and this may be a part of that? Oh well, it's probably a good thing to change one's passwords once in a while, but dang I hate having to remember new stuff!

[donybee]

Like my SSN I give my password out to no one. There are so many scams it's pitiful. My ebay account is getting them all the time. If I get a message from ebay I go directly to ebay on my own and log into messages and then I know it's real. I wouldn't trust any site that wants you to change the password through them.

[joclyn]

sounds like a phish to me. report it by forwarding the email to the appropriate dept and then log in and change your password. (which you already did).

if you use hotmail, and aren't in the window live hotmail thing yet, get in with that. there's a basic format and the 'full version'. in the full version, you get more info about the header stuff - and can see if it's legit or not more easily.

if you're on live already and are using the basic format, scroll down to the bottom of the inbox page and click on the link for 'try full version' and the page will refresh and when you open an individual email, you'll see all that extra header info.

[Wingdesigner]

Well, the affected accounts I changed the passwords properly anyway, so we'll see what happens. Either that or I'm getting "sometimers"...

Jocelyn, thanks for the tip, I may try that, although I think I deleted the offending emails.