Email from microsoft-noreply@microsoft.com. is this a scam?

Question

today i received what seems to be an email from Microsoft.com but google both confirms its a scam and legit and something about azure.

it states in email about a purchase to McAfeeSquad plan.

I have never used a paid Anti virus plan in my life and never will. so i know i have not signed up to anything myself. details below.

It appears someone has charged my Microsoft account with this? Nothing shows as paid from bank. my subs on Microsoft does not show it. but still concerned. anyone help with this? Do not want to click on any of the links inside the email

I see so many questions here, google, reddit and yet no official reply from Microsoft about this use of email address. if its legit then at the worse it seems Microsoft have been hacked or has a virus on its servers sending emails to its customers. making customers think its legit.

Or its part of Microsoft creating false advertise/marketing and up sale products unlawfully?

de

Answer 1

Hello,

This email is a scam.

The sender address is legitimate because it is a real Microsoft notification address.

However, the message content is not from Microsoft.

Here is how the scam works: The scammer crafted their own content in Notebook app and used the share feature so that the notification was delivered via Microsoft's official system, which makes the email address appear “Microsoft sent this.” Please ignore. Don't engage.

Answer 2

From what you’re describing, this strongly sounds like a common “invoice” or “subscription renewal” phishing scam. These emails claim you purchased something like antivirus, McAfee, Geek Squad, or similar, and they rely on panic so you’ll call a fake support number or click a cancellation link. The fact that you’ve never used paid antivirus and nothing appears in your Microsoft subscriptions or bank account strongly suggests this is not a real charge.

Scammers often spoof Microsoft branding and may even reference Azure or Microsoft billing to sound legitimate. It’s also normal for Google searches to show mixed results because scammers reuse real company names and terms, which creates confusing search results.

The key checks are these: do not use any links or phone numbers in the email. Instead, manually go to microsoft.com by typing it into your browser yourself, sign in, and check your account under Services & subscriptions and Order history. If nothing is there, the email is almost certainly fake. Also check the sender address carefully. Many phishing emails use addresses that look similar to Microsoft but are slightly altered or come from unrelated domains.

If there is no charge on your bank and no subscription in your Microsoft account, then nothing has been charged. These scams often send invoices to random email addresses without even knowing whether you have a Microsoft account.

If you want to be extra safe, you can change your Microsoft password and enable two-factor authentication if it isn’t already enabled. That ensures that even if someone had your email address, they can’t access your account.

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hth

Marcin