How to identify scam emails like "DocuSign - Signature Needed"

What kind of scam is "DocuSign - Signature Needed"?

Our team has inspected the email and concluded that it is a deceptive notification regarding a pending internal audit document. The goal is to steal personal information from unsuspecting recipients via a fake website. Such scams are classified as phishing emails. Recipients should always ignore such messages.

More about the "DocuSign - Signature Needed" scam email

This scam email is disguised as a message from DocuSign. It claims that the recipient must review and sign a document titled "Contract Agreement for Q2 2025" related to an internal audit. It states that all other parties have signed and that only the recipient's signature is pending to finalize the process.

The email includes fake details such as a reference number, sender name, contact email, and a date/time stamp to appear legitimate. It also contains a "Review and Sign Document" button - a link designed to open a phsihing website. This site is created to trick visitors into entering their email addresses and passwords (login credentials).

If scammers steal login credentials, they can access to the victim's accounts—such as email, banking, social media, or cloud storage. This access allows them to steal sensitive information, commit financial fraud, or impersonate the victim to scam others. They may also sell the credentials on the dark web.

Additionally, compromised accounts (e.g., email accounts) can be used to distribute malware. Overall, entering login credentials on fake websites or sending them via email to scammers can lead to serious consequences like monetary loss and identity theft.

Similar scam emails in general

These fraudulent messages are designed to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials, financial data, or other personal details. They often appear to come from legitimate sources, may use urgent language, and contain fake links or malicious attachments.

The goal is to deceive users into taking actions that benefit the attacker, such as clicking a link or downloading harmful files (executing malware on computers). Some examples of phishing emails are "Affirm Account Status By Completing CAPTCHA", "Take Immediate Action", and "DHL - Shipping Container Document Invoice".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Threat actors often deliver malware through emails containing malicious attachments, such as executable files, Office documents, PDFs, compressed archives (like ZIP or RAR), script files, and ISO files. The malware remains dormant until the recipient opens the file (or takes further action, depending on the file type).

Their emails may also contain links to deceptive websites that either initiate automatic malware downloads or manipulate users into downloading malicious files themselves. In both cases, malware infiltrates systems after users interact with the contents of malicious emails.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Always approach unexpected and irrelevant emails from unfamiliar senders with caution. Do not open attachments or links unless you have confirmed they are legitimate. When downloading software, stick to trusted sources like official websites or app stores.

Avoid pop-ups, ads, and links on unreliable or suspicious sites. Keep your system and applications updated with the latest security patches, and use reputable antivirus software to perform regular scans. If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "DocuSign - Signature Needed" email letter:

Subject: Internal Audit Document Pending

docusign
Signature Needed: "Internal Audit" Document
Document Icon Review and Sign Document

Hello ********,

You've been requested to review and sign the following document: Contract Agreement with ******** for Q2 2025.

Document Details:
Reference #: 7331087581
Sender: ********
Contact Email: ********

All other parties have completed their signatures. Your action is now required to finalize this document.

If you have any questions, please contact the sender at: ********

DATE: June 7, 2025 at 2:35 PM

Important Security Notice:
This email contains a secure link to your document. Do not share this email or the access link with others.

About DocuSign:
DocuSign is the global standard for electronic signatures and digital transaction management. All DocuSign transactions are legally binding and secure.

© 2025 DocuSign, Inc. All rights reserved.
This message was sent to ********@********

Phishing website used in this scam:

Instant automatic malware removal:

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Quick menu:

• What is DocuSign - Signature Needed 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?

Scammers often send the same message to many people at once/ If you received this, it is likely because your email was harvested from the internet or a fake site—not because you were specifically targeted.

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

If you have provided any account credentials, change all passwords immediately. If some account cannot be accessed, contact its support.

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

If the file was an executable, your system was very likely infected. However, if it was a document—such as a PDF or Word file—you may have avoided infection, since simply opening these files does not always cause damage.

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

Opening an email itself is safe. However, clicking on links or opening attachments within malicious emails can result in your computer becoming infected.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and remove nearly all known malware infections. Since advanced malware often conceals itself deep within the system, performing a full system scan is highly advisable.