'Windows Defender' Email Scam

Con artists are disseminating lure emails posing as messages coming from Microsoft. The fake emails supposedly inform recipients that their subscription to the Microsoft Defender Antivirus (the Windows cybersecurity component, which was previously known as the Windows Defender) has expired and will now be renewed for 1 more year. According to the emails, the user's payment account will be charged $399.99. These messages are entirely fabricated and are in no way connected to the Microsoft company.

Naturally, users would be quite alarmed to see such an unexpected payment and would likely try to cancel it. This is the trap set by the fraudsters. They specifically mention that to cancel the supposed transactions users must contact a provided phone number. Users who call the number will be exposing themselves to various privacy risks. The con artists could use social-engineering tactics to obtain sensitive or private information.

The phone operators also may insist on obtaining a remote connection to the user's device. In these cases, the fraudsters could perform serious fraudulent activities by collecting important documents or delivering malware threats to the device. Users may have spyware, RATs, backdoors, crypto-miners and even ransomware dropped on their computers.