Identifying a Safe Voicemail Email

Here at EIU we are utilizing Microsoft Teams for our phone system. Teams integrates with multiple other Microsoft applications and services as part of their suite of tools. One such application is Outlook. When a caller reaches out to a user at EIU and the call is not answered – a caller has the option to leave a voicemail.

Voicemails are primarily stored as emails within the callee’s mailbox.

Bad actors are aware of this functionality and are using it to their advantage.

It is important for you to quickly identify these false voicemails and when to know a voicemail is legitimate.

Elements of a Voicemail to be Aware Of

(see examples below – refer to red sections)

Subject: This should always be ‘Voice Mail (time length)”

From: Should display the caller ID for the call (you can confirm this by looking at your call history in Teams (Teams > Calls > History) You can compare caller ID to those listed and use time of call as reference.

Attachment: File should always be a mp3 (audio) file. This is the actual recording.

Body: The body of the message is a transcription of the audio file. Translation of all words may not be exact but the general idea of the message should be intact. Use your best judgement on if the message makes sense to pursue.

Setup Voicemail Link: This is the ONLY external link a voicemail will offer. It links to your voicemail settings in an internet browser (chrome,edge,firefox). You may be asked to login to access these settings. But this is not needed to listen to a voicemail.

You can go here to update voicemail settings: https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/usp/voicemail

If the message elements do not match what has been discussed, then likely the message is a fake voicemail.

As mentioned, you can verify all voicemails by checking your call history in Teams.

You can also confirm by doing a forward/reply to the email and the from address should include the number the call came from. If you see a normal email address, then you know this is an email – not a voicemail.

Voicemail emails will:

• Only provide a single link for accessing voicemail settings – this is not needed to listen to a voice message
• NEVER provide attachments other than a single MP3 (Audio) file