ALPHA (fka Tech Alpha 2) Invite Emails

[Lorby_SI 2,042]

8 hours ago, steveli said:

How did you tell which one is real and which one is fake? I got the invitation from “noreply@microsoftstudios.com”.Is it real or fake?

The address tells you nothing. It is the easiest thing in the world to fake that - mine had the same sender address.

The giveaway were the links for the images in the email. They started with a malicious URL, according to sources on the net. The goal is to make you first download the pictures, thus confirming your IP address, and then ideally to make you click on those pictures or a link inside the email, and then input your Microsoft account access data.

This is not about stirring panic. I definitely got a fake invite email, and if I did, others are bound to suffer the same fate.

Best regards

 

Edited January 30, 2020 by Lorby_SI

[reincarnate 4]

Why even bother? There is nothing to read or any news. Why you people are so stressed about logging in?

[b737800 470]

40 minutes ago, reincarnate said:

Why even bother? There is nothing to read or any news. Why you people are so stressed about logging in?

Err, nice first post and, welcome.

[Wobbie 938]

Lol.. 

It's the typical FOMO aspect of these forums. 

[steveli 3]

1 hour ago, Lorby_SI said:

The address tells you nothing. It is the easiest thing in the world to fake that - mine had the same sender address.

The giveaway were the links for the images in the email. They started with a malicious URL, according to sources on the net. The goal is to make you first download the pictures, thus confirming your IP address, and then ideally to make you click on those pictures or a link inside the email, and then input your Microsoft account access data.

This is not about stirring panic. I definitely got a fake invite email, and if I did, others are bound to suffer the same fate.

Best regards

 

Why people want to send you a fake invitation? What benefit they can get? I don’t see any motivation there!

[daowl24 5]

1 hour ago, Lorby_SI said:

The address tells you nothing. It is the easiest thing in the world to fake that - mine had the same sender address.

The giveaway were the links for the images in the email. They started with a malicious URL, according to sources on the net. The goal is to make you first download the pictures, thus confirming your IP address, and then ideally to make you click on those pictures or a link inside the email, and then input your Microsoft account access data.

This is not about stirring panic. I definitely got a fake invite email, and if I did, others are bound to suffer the same fate.

Best regards

 

Every image and link in my invitation has a link that contains something with

'spmailtechno..' when I hover the cursor over them. ..I dont want to type the full thing here in case it is something malicious. I assume my invitation is fake then? Anyone else has received such a mail? 

 

[Mengy 814]

3 minutes ago, daowl24 said:

 I assume my invitation is fake then? Anyone else has received such a mail? 

Not only have I not received an official invitation to the alpha, I've not even received the fake invitation to the alpha, LOL!  😄

[b737800 470]

2 minutes ago, Mengy said:

Not only have I not received an official invitation to the alpha, I've not even received the fake invitation to the alpha, LOL!  😄

I guess you've only got 4GB of RAM then.

[zemez 184]

3 minutes ago, Mengy said:

Not only have I not received an official invitation to the alpha, I've not even received the fake invitation to the alpha, LOL!  😄

Maybe even spammers feel sorry for us.

[JSmith2112 317]

17 minutes ago, daowl24 said:

Every image and link in my invitation has a link that contains something with

'spmailtechno..' when I hover the cursor over them. ..I dont want to type the full thing here in case it is something malicious. I assume my invitation is fake then? Anyone else has received such a mail? 

 

I don't want to say too much, but It sounds like you've received a legit invitation.

[cannow 61]

23 minutes ago, daowl24 said:

Every image and link in my invitation has a link that contains something with

'spmailtechno..' when I hover the cursor over them. ..I dont want to type the full thing here in case it is something malicious. I assume my invitation is fake then? Anyone else has received such a mail? 

 

.My view is it is genuine.

[Nuno Pinto 1,399]

9 hours ago, zemez said:

Why are you panicking? You got your invite, and you will get access soon. I would pay to be in your position.

If you're talking about me, i'm not panicking at all. If i get it, i got it, if not, i didn't. Life goes on.

[daowl24 5]

Thank you for your replies, well lets wait and see then. Just that spmail thing in the links with a long string of random letters and numbers looks very suspicious to me, now that it was brought to the conversation by Lorby_SI. 

 

[Lorby_SI 2,042]

1 hour ago, steveli said:

Why people want to send you a fake invitation? What benefit they can get? I don’t see any motivation there!

For the same reason every phishing email is sent. To confirm that my email address exists, possibly gaining my IP address to attack the router (when I download the pictures that are normally suppressed), and when I'm dumb enough to follow a link in the email and then type in my username and password, to get access to my account, including payment details etc. Or deliver a payload of some kind, like a trojan or a keylogger when I click on the pictures or just allow them to be downloaded.

Everyone is getting those emails, and those who send them will use any means necessary to make them look genuine. I have received phishing mails seemingly sent by my credit card company, my bank, Amazon, Ebay, and a ton of other sites where I don't even have an account. Let alone the really funny ones where someone wants to give me a couple of million $$. These emails are sent by automated servers btw. You can buy malware. Phishing, viruses, trojans and the delivery mechanism are provided as a service by specialized "companies" on the darknet if you are so inclined.

I have long ago stopped asking why humans do anything.

Best regards

Edited January 30, 2020 by Lorby_SI

[Vindeballe 60]

3 hours ago, eaim said:

I still can't log in to the Insiders area.

When I try to login it only see's me as a visitor, yet when i go to the forum it shows my insiders username....... strange.

and still the same for me, well, I gues they get it fixed