Avoid losing your account via fake "EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST" emails

What kind of email is "EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST"?

After examining the "EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST" email, we determined that it is spam designed to operate as a phishing scam.

This fake letter states that the recipient's mail account will be deactivated as per their request, but the process can be stopped if appropriate action is taken. The goal of this spam email is to trick recipients into disclosing their account log-in credentials.

"EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST" email scam overview

The spam letter with the subject "Demand Notice Confirmation Ref:#05123759SB" (may vary) states that a deactivation request for the email account has been received. The shutdown will be processed on the day of the notification's receipt.

If the request was submitted in error or without the account owner's knowledge, the scam email urges the recipient to cancel it immediately by pressing the "Cancel Email De-activation↵" button.

At the time of research, the link redirected to a nonfunctional website. However, it almost doubtlessly was intended to lead to a phishing site. It must be mentioned that this letter may redirect to an operational website in future releases of this campaign.

Typically, spam of this kind promotes fake email account sign-in webpages, which may mimic the legitimate sites identically. Information entered into a phishing page (e.g., email account password) is recorded and sent to scammers. In addition to hijacking the exposed emails, cyber criminals may be able to steal the content registered through them.

To elaborate, social accounts (e.g., emails, social media, messengers, etc.) can be used to ask the contacts/friends for loans, promote scams, or proliferate malware (by sharing malicious files/links) – under the guise of the genuine owners. Stolen finance-related accounts (e.g., online banking, e-commerce, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and/or online purchases.

To summarize, victims of emails like "EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST" can experience system infections, severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have provided your log-in credentials to a phishing webpage – immediately change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts and inform their official support.

Threat Summary:

Name	"EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Email account will be deactivated.
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. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Phishing spam campaign examples

"Orders Payment Swift Telex Copies", "Purchase Confirmation", "Economic Devastation Recovery Relief", and "Your Bitcoin Wallet Has Been Credited" are a few examples of phishing emails we have inspected recently.

Spam letters can wear a wide variety of disguises, including as messages from legitimate companies, organizations, institutions, service providers, authorities, and other entities. In addition to various scams, these emails are used to proliferate malware (e.g., trojans, ransomware, etc.).

This mail is widespread, and it can be well-crafted; due to this – we highly recommend exercising caution with incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns proliferate malware by distributing malicious files as attachments or download links. These files come in various formats, e.g., documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), JavaScript, and so forth.

When a virulent file is executed, run, or otherwise open – the infection chain (i.e., malware download/installation) is initiated. For example, Microsoft Office documents infect systems by executing malicious macro commands, while infectious OneNote files require users to click on embedded files/links.

How to avoid installation of malware?

We strongly advise against opening attachments or links found in suspicious/irrelevant mail (e.g., emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, etc.), as they can be infectious. We recommend using post-2010 Microsoft Office versions since they have the "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic macro execution.

However, malware is not proliferated only through spam mail. Therefore, we also advise being vigilant while browsing since fake and malicious online content typically appears ordinary and harmless.

Furthermore, all downloads must be performed from official and trustworthy sources. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using legitimate functions/tools, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updaters may contain malware.

We must emphasize the importance of having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept updated. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove detected threats/issues. 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 "EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST" spam email letter:

Subject: Demand Notice Confirmation Ref:#05123759SB

EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST

Dear ********,

Our record indicates that you recently made a request to shutdown your email ******** account and this request will be processed shortly today.

 

If this request was made accidentally and you have no knowledge of it, you are advised to cancel the request now
 
Cancel Email De-activation↵
 

However, if you DO NOT cancel this request, your account will be shutdown and all your email data on the ******** organization's server will be lost permanently.

 

Regards.

Email Administrator®

 
This message is auto-generated from E-mail security server.
This email is meant for: ********

Instant automatic malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Quick menu:

• What is "EMAIL ACCOUNT SHUTDOWN REQUEST" 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?

Spam emails are not personal. Cyber criminals distribute these letters by the thousand with the hopes that at least some recipients will fall for their scams.

I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?

If you have disclosed your account credentials – change the passwords of all possibly exposed accounts and inform their official support without delay. And if you've provided other private data (e.g., ID card details, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the corresponding authorities.

I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Devices are infected when malicious attachments/links are opened – hence, merely reading an email will not trigger any infection processes.

I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?

If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes – the system was infected. However, you might have avoided this if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may require additional actions (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking on embedded files/links, etc.) to begin downloading/installing malware.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is designed to detect and eliminate threats. It is capable of removing nearly all known malware infections. Note that running a full system scan is essential – since sophisticated malicious software usually hides deep within systems.

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