Microsoft Rewards is flagging suspecting search activity

Microsoft Rewards warns people of unusual search activity that might limit their ability to earn points in the program. The platform has been doing this for some months lately, and Reddit and Bing users have been concerned about it.

On Reddit, a user posted an image of their activity on the platform, with Microsoft Rewards posting the following message:

Unusual search activity may limit your ability to earn points.

Microsoft Rewards gives you the option to Learn More or Contact Support. These options will tell you exactly what prompted the platform to issue such a warning.

Is this meant to be a warning?
byu/G-Ziss inMicrosoftRewards

The incident is not singular, and many other Windows users have reported it, so Microsoft is taking steps to stop fraudulent use of the platform: the Redmond-based tech giant employs an automatic detection that detects when users are searching or completing tasks too quickly within a short period.

There are ways to stop Microsoft from flagging your activity as suspecting. One of the most efficient ways is to pause the search activity on Bing for a while and try again later.

However, you should also hit the Contact Support button and ask Microsoft to explain the detection to you if you think it is unfair.

Either way, it seems that for some users, this is precisely what’s happening:

i find the inconsistency of these warnings/cooldowns interesting. i’ve been hit with the cooldown (with no warning/banner), not changed my behaviour at all, and then had it randomly lifted and continued to do exactly what i was doing before.

I still don’t understand this. I’ve also been restricted, I can only earn points every 15 minutes… so it’s annoying like why would they limit you like this? They ideally want you to do it but then, when you are doing it too much they limit you like this… it actually makes me want to quit it, seriously this is so ridiculous, Microsoft get a grip will you…

My wife and I do the same exact things everyday to get our points. I got restricted, she didn’t. It’s so inconsistent.

Have you experienced this issue with Microsoft Rewards?

In other news, the platform is also crashing on many users’ Xbox apps, as it doesn’t show up when people want to complete their tasks.