The email message below with the subject: "Verify your Email Address to Avoid Service Interruptions," which claims the recipients need to verify their accounts to prevent them from closing down, is a phishing scam sent by cyber criminals, and not by Microsoft. The fake email message was created by cyber criminals to frighten and trick the recipients into clicking on the link within it. The link goes to a phishing website or a fake website looking like Microsoft’s website, created by cyber criminals to trick potential victims into entering their Microsoft account usernames and passwords on it, by asking them to sign in. But, any attempts to sign into the fake website, will result in the victims’ Microsoft account usernames and passwords being sent to cyber criminals.
Once cybercriminals have gotten their potential victims’ account credentials (usernames and passwords), they will use it to hijack their Microsoft accounts and use them fraudulently. Therefore, recipients of the phishing email message (see below) who were tricked into clicking on the link within it and have attempted to sign into the phishing or fake website that they were taken, are asked to change their Microsoft account passwords immediately, before they are hijacked and used fraudulently by cyber criminals.
The "Verify your Email Address to Avoid Service Interruptions" Phishing Scam
From: Microsoft.com account team [members_update2016011@outlook.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 17 January 2017 3:53 PM
Subject: Verify your email address to avoid service interruptions!
Verify your email address
Dear User,
Our record indicates your account is not updated, which may lead to the close down of your account.
Please visit the link Verify Now to avoid the close down of your account and keep enjoying our services.
Sincerely,
The Microsoft Active Directory Team
Microsoft users should never click on a link to sign into their accounts, they should instead, go directly to https://account.microsoft.com/ and sign-in from there. If there is something that needs to be done to their accounts, they will be notified. This is will prevent Microsoft users from visiting phishing websites disguised as legitimate Microsoft website that steals account credentials.