Extortion through email

It sounds like you are dealing with a potentially compromised email account or a phishing attempt. Here are some steps you can take to address the situation:

1. Check for Compromise: Since the email appears to be coming from yourself, it may indicate that your account has been compromised. Look for any suspicious activity in your account, such as missing emails or changes to your settings.
2. Change Your Password: Immediately change your password to something strong and unique. This can help prevent further unauthorized access.
3. Enable Two-Factor Authentication: If you haven't already, enable two-factor authentication on your account for added security.
4. Report the Email: Use the built-in report feature in Outlook to report the email as phishing. This can help Microsoft take action against the sender.
5. Delete the Email: If the email keeps reappearing, try deleting it from all devices and ensure that it is removed from the Deleted Items folder as well.
6. Scan for Malware: Run a malware scan on your devices to ensure that there are no malicious programs that could be affecting your email.
7. Contact Support: If the issue persists, consider reaching out to Microsoft Support for further assistance.

By taking these steps, you can help secure your account and mitigate the risks associated with the extortion email.

References:

• Common symptoms of a compromised Microsoft 365 email account
• How do I report a suspicious email or file to Microsoft?

Hello,

Make sure you do this on a computer, not on smartphone or tablet. Go to https://www.outlook.com and log in, click on the gear icon on the top right to launch the settings.

Then, on the Mail tab, go to Rules. Are there any rules set up here? If yes, delete them all.

Then check the conditional format, again, if it's there, delete it.

Then, check Forwarding and IMAP, If any items are present, delete them as well.

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If you can't find anything, go to https://account.live.com > Your info > Sign in Preferences. Make sure to check all the aliases here. If you don't recognize any there, delete it.

Then go to Security > Manage How I sign in, make sure all contact info is yours.

Please make sure you change your password and enable two-step verficiation.

Go to your account online, go to Devices, remove any devices you don't recognize.

Then go to Security, click on Sign out everywhere. This is meant to kill any session that's still connected. Unfortunately, this one will take 24 hours to take effect.

Then, take one step further - Go to your Microsoft account online https://account.live.com> Sign in > Your info > Sign in preference. Add an alias - You have two options here:

Create new: this will allow you to use the native domain outlook.com to create a new alias.

Add existing: this will allow you to add a 3rd party email address, such as yahoo, gmail, as long as they are not already associated with another Microsoft account.

Once added, make this new alias your primary alias, do NOT delete the old alias. Then at the bottom, click on "Change sign in preference". On the next page, uncheck the box for the old alias. This means, from now one, the old alias cannot be used to sign into your Microsoft account, but it can be still used to receive emails, etc.