Windows 10: Suspicious characters in SMS verification message

I was trying to setup my sister's account on her new laptop a week ago and was asked for a mobile number for verification. I got the SMS with the access code, entered the code, and it worked, her account and laptop are now set. My concern is the weird characters in the SMS message and the sender ID not being from Microsoft, just a regular phone number:





I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this didn't see an Account/Securit forum but what do you think? Does Microsoft send verification codes that way?

:)

 

SMS character counter not appearing after 130 characters?

I have a lumia 610. However the SMS character counter is not appearing after 130 characters are typed in for an SMS message.



Any suggestions why this isn't happening?

 

Gmail suspicious activity alert?

I'd definitely setup two-step verification like MailMan suggested. I actually just set it up myself, and have a similar feature on Facebook as well. Better safe than sorry! *Toast :toast:

 

microsoft account verification

Hi Cis,


Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

I understand the inconvenience you are facing currently. Let me help you in resolving the issue.

The issue could be due to some suspicious activity on the computer. I would suggest you to try the steps from the following link and see if that helps.

About two-step verification

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/two-step-verification-faq

Hope the information helps. Keep us posted on Windows related queries and we will be happy to assist you further.