someone sent an email from my msn. account and it wasnt sent by me

Question

Hi, Someone sent a group message from my msn email account. it was a group email to over 40 people. The email was shocking saying that i had a terrible accident. What can i do to stop this? Thank You

Answer 1

Hi Tina Maria Corte

From your description, I understand how upsetting it is to see an email sent from your account that you didn’t write. I’m really sorry this happened.

Have you already tried the Q&A Assist suggestions under your post? To help narrow this down further, please check and confirm:

• Can you still sign in to the account normally right now?
• When you review your recent sign‑in activity, do you see any locations or devices you don’t recognize?
• Are there any rules or forwarding settings you don’t remember setting up?

If you're still have access, please secure your Microsoft account immediately:

1. Go to: https://account.microsoft.com/security > Manage how I sign in
2. Remove any unfamiliar sign‑in methods
3. Check the list of devices associated with your account
4. If you notice anything unusual, change to a strong password and Sign out everywhere
5. Turn on Two-step verification: How to use two-step verification with your Microsoft account - Microsoft Support
6. Check Recent activity: https://account.microsoft.com/activityand choose This wasn’t me/ Secure your account for anything you don’t recognize.

Please feel free to let me know how it goes so I can guide you further. Thank you so much for your time and understanding.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

Take immediate steps to secure the Outlook.com/MSN account and stop further misuse:

1. Secure the account sign-in
   • Change the account password to a strong, unique password that is not used on any other site.
   • Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for the account. MFA blocks most password-based attacks and is the most important protection for the account.
   • If the same email address is used as the username on other sites, change those passwords as well, especially if any are weak or reused.
2. Sign out attackers and remove their access
   • Use the Microsoft account security page to sign out of all active sessions so any attacker currently signed in is disconnected.
   • Review and remove any suspicious app permissions or connected apps that have access to email.
3. Clean up Outlook.com mailbox configuration
   • In Outlook on the web, open Settings → Mail → Rules and delete any rules that you did not create (for example, rules that auto-forward, auto-delete, or auto-send messages).
   • Check Mail → Forwarding and remove any forwarding addresses that you do not recognize.
   • If available in the environment, also review any connectors, add-ins, or mail flow rules that could be sending messages on behalf of the account.
4. Harden against future abuse
   • Be extra cautious with any email that asks to click a link, open an attachment, or act urgently. Scammers often use urgency and fear to trick people.
   • Use the spam/phishing reporting features in Outlook.com so that unwanted or malicious messages are filtered more effectively in the future.
5. Inform contacts if needed
   • Consider sending a brief, legitimate message to the affected contacts explaining that the earlier email was sent without consent and should be ignored, especially if it contained alarming or misleading information.

If there are signs that the account is still behaving strangely (new rules reappearing, messages being sent without action), repeat the steps above and monitor sign-in activity closely.

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References:

• Help protect your Outlook.com email account
• What to do if your email address is leaked
• Phishing and suspicious behavior in Outlook
• Hacker set up continuous draft ransomware email - Microsoft Q&A