Starting this week, Microsoft will send thousands of people an email with a gift card to their store.
Over the next few weeks, the company plans to send digital gift cards to random emails* in order to “start your holiday shopping.” At a time like this, it is critical to recognize the massive potential for chaos that this will almost certainly cause in the future.
Title of Microsoft gift card email
The Microsoft Store $100 gift card email title here in the holiday season of 2021 is straightforward. The email’s subject line is “Here’s $100 to get you started on your holiday shopping.” Although Microsoft claimed that these emails were sent at random, common sense would dictate a few parameters.
Since Microsoft does not have a list of every email address in the world, the randomness of their distribution is not truly random. Microsoft will almost certainly have chosen email addresses from those who have previously accessed their store or one of their products. If you have an email address associated with your Xbox for your Microsoft account, Microsoft will most likely target that address.
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If you’ve ever blocked Microsoft emails or asked Microsoft to stop sending emails about their products and services, there’s a slim chance you’ll get one of these $100 gift cards.
Possibility of Harm
Now that Microsoft has sent out an actual, real, and legitimate $100 gift card via email, malicious actors will be looking to take advantage. They’ll almost certainly send emails that look exactly like the one Microsoft sent, with links that appear to go to the Microsoft Store.
These malicious emails, which will almost certainly appear in your email app or service in the near future, will be difficult to detect. It will be a true test of the methods and means used by Microsoft’s Outlook, Google’s Gmail, and other services to detect and deter scammers.
If you receive an email in the coming weeks that appears to be from Microsoft and/or the Microsoft Store, complete with a gift card, double-check that it is from Microsoft. While there is no perfect way to do this, looking at the email’s sender’s email address is a good place to start.
If the sender’s email address begins with @microsoft.com, you’re probably safe. The same is true for emails sent from windows.com. Just make sure there’s nothing in the email address that’s even slightly off. Do not put your trust in an email with the subject “[email protected]” or “[email protected].” Check to see if you’ve received emails from the address from which this new email is coming in the past. If you haven’t already, it’s likely a scam. Be safe out there!