I keep getting emails for a single-use code.

Anonymous
2023-08-07T16:14:20+00:00

Hi,

I keep getting emails for a single use code in my email. I probably receive 10 emails a day for the past few weeks. And I haven't been trying to request a code.

Email says:

We received your request for a single-use code to use with your Microsoft account.

Your single-use code is: 4*****7

If you didn't request this code, you can safely ignore this email. Someone else might have typed your email address by mistake.

Thanks,

The Microsoft account team

It's quite annoying. The email sender is from ___@___.___

I would like to stop getting these emails as I'm not trying request a code.

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Account management, security, and privacy

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Anonymous
2023-08-07T16:45:37+00:00

Hello Priscilla_A,

Welcome to the Microsoft community.

I'm a Microsoft user like you, I hope you're doing well?

I understand how discomforting it can be to receive a one-time security code for your account when you didn't initiate.

However, it's a good idea to ignore this code if you haven't requested it.

One-time code is an essential security feature that prevents unauthorized access to your account. One-time code is required to access your account. These codes can be used only once and has expiration time for their usage.

You may receive one-time code emails if:

  1. Signing into your Microsoft account from a new device or browser.
  2. Resetting your Microsoft account password.
  3. Making changes to your Microsoft account security information.
  4. Signing into your Microsoft account from a new location.
  5. Unusual and suspicious activity is detected on your Microsoft account.

If someone mistakenly enters your account email ID, you can't stop them, that's out of your control (you don't know who it is), All you can do is ignore it, as suggested in the email.

The same applies if someone may be trying to intentionally access your Microsoft account, a one-time code is a security feature that prevents this unauthorised access.

You don't control the actions of others, hence you can't stop it.

If there was a way to stop it, Microsoft would state it in an email rather than suggesting you to ignore it any one-time code you did not initiate.

I will suggest you check your Microsoft account sign-in activity to make sure there are no unauthorised access. You can see a list of devices and browsers that have accessed your account recently.

Microsoft account management website: https://account.live.com/Activity

Here are a few things you can do to make your Microsoft account more secured:

  1. Create a strong password for your account
  2. Use the Microsoft Authenticator phone app to sign in without a password
  3. Make your account easier to recover
  4. Make sure your operating system has the latest updates
  5. Never reply to email asking for your password
  6. Check your recent activity
  7. Keep your devices safe

Click link below for more information:

https://support.microsoft.com/help/628538c2-7006-33bb-5ef4-c917657362b9

If you are receiving blackmail emails, please report this issue to the nearest authorities.

Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Give back to the community, help the next person who has this problem by pointing out if this answer solved your problem. Click "Yes" or "No" below.

Warm Regards

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-02-17T03:41:12+00:00

    For anyone reading this, this is an attempt to get into your account. This is how it works and why you are getting so many:

    Bad actors have massive lists of emails, they will send a login request to each and the code is a number less than 10million. If hackers have a list of 10million accounts, odds are, they will access one of them if they guess a random number within that (law of averages). They can then repeat these 10million login requests multiple times per day and will have a successfully hijacked account each time. They will use proxy servers to rotate their IP address on each request to evade being blocked.

    I'm a full stack engineer who has worked in software security for 15 years and even I am getting these with no way to stop the emails, however you can enable 2 factor authentication which can help.

    If Microsoft simply increase the type or amount of characters to an amount that's actually secure, it would certainly stop these spam emails overnight.

    This post is 100% correct. It's an easy fix that Microsoft just doesn't care enough to implement.

    Go to https://account.live.com/Activity?mkt=en-US&refd=account.microsoft.com&refp=security

    This will show you all attempts to log in your account.

    You'll have to log into your MS Account. I found this thread because I'm having the same issue, and now I see THOUSANDS of attempts from all over the world (fake IPs and VPNs I'm sure) but Saurdi Arabia, China, Turkey all within the same hour and I guess Microsoft wants us to believe that's just.. .normal. So yeah I turned on 2FA but I HATE this type of 2FA. Every time I get a new phone it's a whole... thing with them. Really a shame MS can't just implement a much longer truly secure hash code for verification.

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  2. Anonymous
    2024-02-17T01:53:31+00:00

    I'm pretty suspect on this explanation...

    I set up a new laptop yesterday which required me to enter Microsoft account details to go through all the motions. Starting receiving these emails and and hacking attempts almost immediately after doing this.

    I got the laptop to study and don't require it for anything else until the semester starts in two weeks, so after setting it up I set it aside. I haven't used any accounts or entered any other information in that laptop, only details submitted directly to Microsoft relating to my Microsoft account. I really can't see how the breach could come from anywhere other than Microsoft.

    I'm not an IT expert, but I'm having trouble wrapping my head around how any other accounts can be the source of the leak.

    Also, I've received 20 emails in the last 6 hours. It's entirely impractical to expect anyone to just ignore them. If it continues at this rate, it'll be 80 emails a day. I can't block the emails because I need to be able to receive the emails for my own legitimate purposes. I can't just mute my phone or turn off email notifications, because then I might miss other emails I need to be notified of.

    Is there anyway to completely delete my Microsoft account and run a computer n Windows without an account?

    With most computers running off Windows, then having to use an account that's so easily compromised, and then being forced to receive an incredible amount of emails per day, being shown that someone is actively trying to hack my accounts and being told there's nothing that can be done to stop it, and you can't even block the emails... the whole thing just seems so poor. And there's no alternative? Microsoft is one of the biggest companies in the world, with I'm assuming billions of direct customers, and this is their answer? I mean... come on!

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  3. Anonymous
    2024-02-17T01:24:22+00:00

    I would bet my last dollar that it is a scammer or scammer bot trying to hack into your account. I have already received about 25 of these email notices today. When you get bombarded with several email notifications on this within a few minutes or hours it is NOT someone typing in an incorrect email by mistake as Microsoft would like us all to believe. It IS a concerted effort to hack into your account.
    Nothing we can do about it these days. Just be thankful for 2FA. Though, some kind of tracker would be nice to go after the culprit(s).

    Hi,

    I keep getting emails for a single use code in my email. I probably receive 10 emails a day for the past few weeks. And I haven't been trying to request a code.

    Email says:

    We received your request for a single-use code to use with your Microsoft account.

    Your single-use code is: 4*****7

    If you didn't request this code, you can safely ignore this email. Someone else might have typed your email address by mistake.

    Thanks,

    The Microsoft account team

    It's quite annoying. The email sender is from *** Email address is removed for privacy ***

    I would like to stop getting these emails as I'm not trying request a code.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-02-17T01:06:51+00:00

    Hi Raymond,

    Thanks for your contribution. I have a question, wanted to pick your brain a bit.

    To generate the single-use code, the user needs to submit the Microsoft account email address, and then submit the recovery email address. I'm not sure if there are other ways of generating the single-use code.

    Since the hacker has both email addresses, should we assume they have obtained more of our PII?

    Thanks!

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