Don’t delete this email: Microsoft is sending out $100 gift cards

Every day, scammers and bots inundate our email accounts with spam and fake offers. We would all be millionaires if every reward that hit our email was real. Sadly, they are not, and you should always be careful when opening emails from senders you do not recognize. But every once in a while, a real offer comes along. As noted by Wario64 on Twitter this week, Microsoft has started sending out gift cards in emails for the Microsoft Store worth up to $100 to random users.

Microsoft is sending out free gift cards to its store

My first instinct was to suspect a brilliant scam. After all, according to my spam folder, someone has already deposited over $3,000 into my bank account twice today. But this isn’t spam. This offer is real. Dozens of Twitter users have now responded to Wario64’s tweet with screenshots of the emails they received. Here’s what the email from Microsoft Store will look like in your inbox:

Check your emails: Microsoft Store is sending emails to random users with up to $100 gift card. Subject title: “Here’s $100 to start your holiday shopping” pic.twitter.com/mHzICdKUJy

— Wario64 (@Wario64) November 10, 2021

There don’t appear to be any strings attached to this offer. You don’t have to fill out a survey or take a test. Just click on the button in the email and redeem your $100 Microsoft Store gift card.

The bad news is that not everyone is going to receive a $100 gift card. Microsoft sent some users $10 instead, and others got nothing more than an ad for the Microsoft Store. As far as we can tell, there’s no rhyme or reason to who gets what. It might even be completely random.

If you are one of the lucky users that received a gift card, there’s plenty that you can do with $100 on the Microsoft Store. The best place to start is probably the deals page, where you can find everything that Microsoft has on sale. Maybe you need a laptop, a gaming headset, or a mouse. Or maybe you’re looking to stock up on Xbox games ahead of the holiday season. Forza Horizon 5 and Call of Duty: Vanguard just came out this month. You snag at least one with your $100.