How to avoid getting scammed by fake "Take Immediate Action" emails

What kind of email is "Take Immediate Action"?

Our inspection of the "Take Immediate Action" email revealed that it is spam. This message urges the recipient to verify their email to remove the restrictions placed in response to suspicious activity detected on the account. This spam mail aims to trick recipients into disclosing their log-in credentials to a phishing site.

"Take Immediate Action" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "Please verify your account [recipient's_email_address]" (may vary) claims that unusual activity has been detected on the email account. As a security measure, some features have been temporarily restricted. The account's functionality can be restored by verifying the email.

It must be emphasized that the claims made by this email are false, and this mail is not associated with any real service providers or entities.

During our research, the promoted phishing website was down. However, this might be fixed in potential future releases of this spam campaign (i.e., emails will redirect to an operational webpage). Typically, mail of this kind promotes phishing sites disguised as email account sign-in pages.

By trying to sign in through such a website – users unintentionally expose their accounts to scammers. The unauthorized access can be abused in various ways, including to attempt stealing the accounts, platforms, and services registered through the compromised email.

To expand upon this, scammers can steal account owners' identities (e.g., emails, social networking/media, messengers, etc.) and ask for loans or donations from contacts/friends/followers, endorse scams, and spread malware by sharing malicious files or links. Hijacked finance-related accounts (e.g., online banking, money transferring, e-commerce, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and online purchases.

To summarize, victims of scam emails like "Take Immediate Action" can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have already disclosed your log-in credentials to scammers – change the passwords of all potentially exposed accounts and contact their official support without delay.

Phishing spam campaign examples

"DHL - Shipping Container Document Invoice", "WordPress Contact Email Verification", "Changes To Terms Of Service And Privacy Policy", and "Big Lotto" are just some of our new articles on phishing emails.

In addition to log-in credentials, these messages commonly targeted personally identifiable information and finance-related data. However, various scams are facilitated through spam mail. It is also used to distribute all kinds of malware.

These emails are often poorly written and riddled with grammatical/spelling mistakes, but they can be competently put together and even convincingly disguised as messages from legitimate entities. Therefore, we highly recommend exercising caution within incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns spread malware through infectious files, which can be attached to or linked inside the emails/messages. Virulent files can be documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), executables (EXE, RUN, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), JavaScript, and so forth.

Merely opening a malicious file can be enough to trigger the infection chain. However, some formats need extra interaction to initiate malware infiltration processes. For example, Microsoft Office files require users to enable macro commands (i.e., content/editing), while OneNote documents need them to click on embedded links or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Vigilance is essential to device and user safety. Hence, approach incoming emails and other messages with caution; do not open attachments or links found in suspicious/irrelevant communications.

However, malware is not proliferated exclusively via spam campaigns. Therefore, be careful while browsing since fraudulent and dangerous online content usually appears genuine and harmless.

Download only from official and verified channels. Activate and update software using functions/tools provided by legitimate developers, as illegal product activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updaters may contain malware.

It is paramount to have a dependable antivirus installed and kept up-to-date. Security programs must be used to perform regular system scans and to remove 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 "Take Immediate Action" spam email letter:

Subject: Please verify your account ********

VERIFY ********

Take Immediate Action

We've detected unusual activity associated with your account. To ensure your security, certain features have been restricted temporarily.

Please confirm this activity and restore your account's functionality by verifying your email:

Verify My Email

If you believe this action was taken in error, please contact our support team immediately.

Thank you for your cooperation.

© 2025. All rights reserved.

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Quick menu:

• What is "Take Immediate Action" 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?

Regardless of any relevant information that spam emails may include – they are not personal. Cyber criminals distribute these messages 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 provided your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts and inform their official support. However, if you've disclosed information of a different personal nature (e.g., ID card details, passport scans/photos, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact relevant authorities.

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

No, reading an email will not trigger any malware infiltration processes. Systems are compromised when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.

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

If the opened file was an executable – most likely, yes – your device was infected. However, you might have avoided this if it was a document. These formats may require additional actions (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded files/links, etc.) to initiate infection processes.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and removing practically all known malware infections. Keep in mind that performing a complete system scan is essential since high-end malicious programs usually hide deep within systems.