single-use code

Question

I am receiving emails with "single-use sign on codes" but when I see my recent activity there are only two events listed. I am an my computer every day. Does the recent activity not show 30 days worth of sign on activity. I have not entered either of these codes since I have not requested this.

Answer 1

@Pat Buckley said

Does the recent activity not show 30 days worth of sign on activity.

Not any more. Microsoft nerfed the Recent Activity page. It's now totally useless for routine monitoring. See:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5515503/have-microsoft-changed-the-behaviour-of-the-see-yo

About all you can do is check your Recent Activity page for a "Successful Login" that wasn't you. And by then it's too late, they are already in.

I have not entered either of these codes since I have not requested this.

The only way to stop bogus MFA verification request is to disable Sign-In on your existing email alias.

For detailed instructions on how to setup a Login Only Alias and disable Sign-In for your current email address, see the answer by "Hornblower409  on Feb 27, 2026" in https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5789093/i-get-a-few-2fa-notifications-from-canada-daily-us

Answer 2

Thank you for letting me know.

The one you shared does look genuine, especially since it’s coming from @accountprotection.microsoft.com, which is an official Microsoft domain. However, the most important part is confirming whether you actually made this change or not.

Reference: "Can I trust email from the Microsoft account team?" https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/can-i-trust-email-from-the-microsoft-account-team-685fd302-f52f-1a9f-cc13-065dec46fe25

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To help narrow down the issue:

Did you recently add a passkey or make any security changes to your Microsoft account?

If no, don’t click any links in the email just to be safe. Instead:

• Open a browser and go directly to the Microsoft account website by typing it manually or use https://account.microsoft.com
• Sign in and review your Recent activity https://account.live.com/Activity to check for any unfamiliar sign-ins.
• Review your security info and account aliases to make sure nothing was added without your knowledge: https://account.live.com/SignInPreferences
• If you see anything suspicious, change your password immediately and remove any unknown security methods.

To be safe, I recommend:

• Don’t click on any links or download anything from that email.
• Go directly to the Microsoft Account Activity page https://account.live.com/Activity and check your recent sign-in activity. If there’s nothing unusual there, then the message most likely isn’t from Microsoft.
• If you didn’t request any changes and the email is not officially from Microsoft, it’s a good idea to ignore or report the email as phishing.

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I really hope this information is helpful.

Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Click "Add comment" to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.

Answer 3

Microsoft account team******@accountprotection.microsoft.com This is where the email came from. I have not used the code nor clicked on any link. The sign on activity show no "unusual" activity.

Thank you

Answer 4

Hi, I'm John! I will help you with this.

If you did not request the code, do not use it and do not click any links in the email.

Can you share the sender email address so we can check if it is really from Microsoft? Please hide part of the address for privacy.

Sometimes this can happen if someone accidentally entered your email while trying to sign in, or someone knows your account credentials and is trying to access the account. Have you already changed the password for that account?

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"How to help keep your Microsoft account secure" https://support.microsoft.com/account-billing/how-to-help-keep-your-microsoft-account-secure-628538c2-7006-33bb-5ef4-c917657362b9

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Click "Add comment" to let me know.