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#4334526 - 02/03/17 11:58 PM text message 732873  
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,585
coasty Offline
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coasty  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,585
Asheville, NC, USA
about an hour ago as I was using an accounting program on my PC I got a text on my phone from 732873 about going to another site and verifying my Microsoft password to insure access. I went and entered the last 4 digits of my phone number, as instructed, and I got a call immediately, with an authentication code. I entered it and changed my password. the new pass word works fine and I deleted the gmail notification, since I never use it, leaving the cell phone one in effect.

later I looked up that number and found it is used for notifications like I got, with mixed opinions as to whether or not it is something good or bad. some person had posted that it was used by valve (steam) to notify accounts when they have been compromised, so I logged on steam and sure enough, they had a pop up telling me that I had changed my verification info and no further action was needed.

Any thoughts on what I did, or should have done?

Last edited by coasty; 02/03/17 11:59 PM.

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#4334532 - 02/04/17 12:18 AM Re: text message 732873 [Re: coasty]  
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Herman Offline
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Herman  Offline
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IMO, you should never click on a link for which you suspect or are not 100% certain is valid.

Instead, you should have gone DIRECTLY to the MicroSoft site and logged in before changing your password. The same applies to Steam. Links can sometimes be deliberately made to look authentic, but send the user to a phishing site.

For your safety, you should probably do it again, right away.


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#4334537 - 02/04/17 12:29 AM Re: text message 732873 [Re: coasty]  
Joined: Jun 2001
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coasty Offline
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coasty  Offline
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,585
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actually, I did type in the link into my address bar, as I think you saying which I forgot to mention. that habit goes way back. the fact that steam knew about it seems to indicate that they notified Microsoft.


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#4334541 - 02/04/17 12:55 AM Re: text message 732873 [Re: coasty]  
Joined: Jul 2004
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Herman Offline
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Herman  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2004
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Originally Posted By: coasty
actually, I did type in the link into my address bar, as I think you [are] saying which I forgot to mention.

Actually, to be clear, I am saying that you should trust nothing about the e-mail/text you received. Whether or not you click on the link they sent or (re-)type the link address/name into your browser, you would still end up at the same place (if it were a phishing scam.)

Instead, you should type in the MicroSoft/Steam site address directly (or conduct your own search for the address.) If this was what you actually did, then you are probably safe. However, there can be no such thing as too much precaution in this age of internet scams.


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#4546457 - 11/29/20 12:35 PM Re: text message 732873 [Re: coasty]  
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AngelaTurner Offline
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AngelaTurner  Offline
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I advise you to never click on suspicious links. which you're not sure about. I once had a similar situation when I received an email that someone wanted to hack my account. The message indicated the points that I need to do to change my password quickly. I did everything and in the end, it turned out that it was scammers who hacked me. You can say I helped them hack my account :/ I then spent a lot of nerves and effort to deal with this problem.

#4546511 - 11/29/20 07:47 PM Re: text message 732873 [Re: coasty]  
Joined: Nov 2019
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NoFlyBoy Offline
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NoFlyBoy  Offline
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I get that stuff too in SMS or email. One day I got an email that look very official down to the email address it came from. The email title read the phone # I use to send and receive money on Zelle is removed and my bank account use to take money from for Zelle is temporariy suspended until I verify it: that whole thing was in the title of it. I immediately SPAM the email without opening it. Why? I have never use Zelle to send or receive money. I also get similar phishing email saying my Apple cloud have been suspended (yet my iPhone still works) or my Amazon Prime account have been compromised and cancelled (yet I can still go to Prime every day and stream movies) or someone made a purchase on my checking account outside the USA and my debit card is cancelled, verify my account ID to get a new card send to me.


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