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Hotmail users warned of phishing scam

Hotmail account users have been warned to watch out for an email scam claiming to be from the Hotmail Customer Care team or they risk being exposed to online threats.

An online security expert has warned that this particular email, whose spelling mistakes are a give-away, is a phishing scam out to create avenues for cyber crooks.

"We are having congestions due to the anonymous registration of Hotmail accounts so we are shutting down some Hotmail accounts and yours was among those to be deleted," reads part of the email.

"We are sending you this email to so [sic] that you can verify and let us know if you still want to use this account."

According to Christopher Boyd from FaceTime Security, the email, which goes ahead to request recipients to verify details of their Hotmail account or be shut down within 24 hours, is not new.

The Financial Times recently reported that crooks are increasingly concentrating their efforts on phishing, which is more difficult to detect, rather than spamming.

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