I think when you click the link-verification it takes you back to original website - check you popup blocker:)
Thanks.. I found this online and I think that’s the issue..
The main reason of hyperlinks not working in Outlook is the default Internet browser not registered (properly) in your operating system. Typically, this issue comes up after uninstalling Google Chrome or changing the default browser from Internet Explorer to either Chrome or Firefox.Jan 16, 2014
(I have several different browsers on this old machine that I used to use for testing...)