How to spot scam emails like "E-Mail Password Center!"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What kind of scam is "E-Mail Password Center!"?
We have investigated this email and found that it is written by scammers who aim to lure recipients into providing sensitive information on a phishing page. It is disguised as a letter from an email service provider. This scam email should be marked as spam and deleted.
More about the "E-Mail Password Center!" scam email
This email claims that the email account password has expired and must be validated to continue using the current password. It includes the "Keep Same Password" button, a hyperlink that opens a phishing website. That phishing page mimics Microsoft Bing sign-in page. It may be designed to choose the page design accordingly to the recipient's email address (email service provider).
The purpose of that phishing website is to trick visitors into entering their passwords. Scammers may use the obtained passwords to steal not only email accounts but also other accounts. They usually try to access various accounts using the extracted password and often succeed when victims use the same password for more than one account.
Crooks can use stolen email accounts to send scam emails to other people, deliver malware, extract money from people in the contacts list, etc. If they would access other accounts with the same passwords, they may steal identities, steal money and perform other malicious activities.
| Name | E-Mail Password Center! Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Email account password has expired. |
| Disguise | Letter from an email service provider |
| Symptoms | Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of the computer. |
| Distribution methods | Deceptive emails, rogue online pop-up ads, search engine poisoning techniques, misspelled domains. |
| Damage | Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft. |
| Malware Removal (Windows) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. |
Similar scam emails in general
Scam emails used to extract sensitive information usually are disguised as important/urgent/official letters from legitimate companies, organizations, or other entities. Crooks attempt to extract sensitive directly via email or through phishing websites (e.g., fake login pages). Usually, they aim to obtain credit card details, login information, ID card information, etc.
Examples of phishing emails are "CFDI Manager Emisión", "Mailbox Software Update", and "Netflix - We've Suspended Your Membership". Cybercriminals also use emails to trick recipients into infecting computers.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Recipients infect computers via malicious attachments or links presented in emails sent by cybercriminals. Typically, threat actors use malicious documents (mostly MS Office and PDF docs), executables, archives (like ZIP and RAR), JavaScript files, or ISO files to distribute malicious software.
It is important to mention that MS Office documents infect computers after enabling macros commands (editing or content).
How to avoid installation of malware?
Double-check emails before opening their contents (links or attachments). Remember that irrelevant emails sent from unknown addresses are likely to contain malicious files or links. Download software from reliable sources such as official pages and stores. Avoid downloading it from other sources (e.g., P2P networks, dubious pages, third-party downloaders, etc.).
Keep the operating system and installed software updated. Scan the operating system for threats regularly. Use a reputed antivirus solution. If you've already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "E-Mail Password Center!" email letter:
Subject: Password Validation required for ********
e-Mail Password Center!******** Your email Password has expired and must be validated as you want to continue with the current Password.
Keep Same Password
This email was sent to: ********
******** ©Mailbox. • 2022
Screenshot of the phishing page promoted via this email:
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Quick menu:
- What is E-Mail Password Center! phishing email?
- Types of malicious emails.
- How to spot a malicious email?
- What to do if you fell for an email scam?
Types of malicious emails:
Phishing Emails
Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.
Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.
After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.
Emails with Malicious Attachments
Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.
In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.
If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.
While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.
Sextortion Emails
This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.
To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.
How to spot a malicious email?
While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:
- Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
- Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
- Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
- Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.
To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
Example of a spam email:
What to do if you fell for an email scam?
- If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
- If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
- If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
- If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
- Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Why did I receive this email?
This email is non-targeted. Scammers sent the same letter to all recipients.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
If you provided your password on the opened phishing website, change all your passwords as soon as possible. Especially if scammers can use your password to access more than one account.
I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to this email, is my computer infected?
Executable files infect computers right after they are opened. MS Office documents cannot infect computers until macros commands are enabled. Different files infect computers after taking different actions. Whether a computer is infected depends on the file that was opened.
I have read the email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?
No, it is safe to open emails even when they contain malicious website links or attachments/files.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Yes, Combo Cleaner will remove malicious software from the operating system. It can detect almost all known malware. Since high-end malware usually hides deep in the system, running a full system scan is required to eliminate it.
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