Scammers are taking advantage of free Azure hosting to bamboozle PC users

Microsoft’s Azure Cloud is being actively exploited by hundreds of phishing websites, disguised as tech support.

Using the azurewebsites.net domain name amongst many; the scammers notify users that their device is infected with malware.  They offer to “remove the virus” after provision of money.

Microsoft currently offer free accounts for 12 months, with $280 credit for all services used within 30 days.  Scammers take advantage of a transport layer security digital certificate, so they’re able to authenticate websites for free.

When this issue was addressed in a tweet by MalwareHunterTeam, Microsoft simply responded  that they should “report this scenario with our team”.

https://letshaveanotherround.azurewebsites[.]net/
MS hosted, MS faking tech support scam…
?@JayTHL pic.twitter.com/LwmQKIytS1

— MalwareHunterTeam (@malwrhunterteam) May 10, 2019

Whilst reported websites are reviewed and taken down, the issue has been ongoing since 2014; with scammers targeting Apple, PayPal, American Express and Comcast.  In a bid to reduce cybercrime, Google has completely banned third-party tech support ads all together.  This may be something that Microsoft should consider to secure their free webhosting service.

Source: itnews