Received a few emails today with the subject line as: [Attention] This is a protected message!
You do not want to click any links in this email, it is spam and should be destroyed.
Protected Message Looks Like It Is From Microsoft
Take a look at the image at the top of this post. Text says:
{email address} has sent you a protected message. Please read the message as soon as possible before it expires.
Read The Message [this is a button]
This link will expire on 5 March, 2020
It appears to be a protected message from Microsoft and if you are using Office 365 this may appear to be genuine, much like this one, but it is not.
If you receive this “protected message” and you hover over the link of the “Read The Message” button in Outlook, you will see it does not point to Microsoft.
The link in the ones we received point to “sanketindia.in” which is an Indian domain name. Maybe yours are different.
Update: About ten minutes after receiving this email message it automatically deleted from the Inbox.
Be Vigilant
As a reminder: If you are not sure about an incoming email then ignore it, delete it, but don’t just click something within an email. Send it to someone who can verify if it is valid (let them know it’s coming)
Email spam and phishing is on the rise again this year.
Stay vigilant, stay safe!