How to identify scams like "Email Account Closure"

What is "Email Account Closure" scam?

Our analysis of the email indicates that it is a phishing attempt. The message is disguised as a notification regarding an email account closure. It contains a link to a fake website. That site is designed to appear official to trick visitors into entering personal information. Falling for this scam can result in account hijacking, which could lead to further negative outcomes.

More about the "Email Account Closure" scam email

This email claims that a request was submitted to close the recipient's email account. It states that the closure is scheduled to occur shortly and warns that access to the account and its data will be lost if no action is taken. The message urges the recipient to act immediately by clicking a "Cancel Account Closure" link if they did not authorize the request.

Clicking the link directs the recipient to a fraudulent login page that imitates a legitimate email service such as Gmail or Yahoo Mail, or another email provider. The page is created to look authentic in order to trick users into entering their email address and password.

Once submitted, these credentials are captured by the scammers, allowing them to take over the email account. Scammers commonly use stolen accounts to send deceptive messages, distribute malware, or steal personal and sensitive information found in emails.

The stolen passwords may also be reused to access other services, such as social media, banking, or gaming accounts. Because of these risks, ignoring and not interacting with such scam emails is essential to prevent further compromise and damage.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this email is a phishing scam designed to trick recipients into believing that their email accounts will be closed. Its goal is to trick recipients into clicking a malicious link and entering login credentials on a fake website. Sometimes, deceptive emails can be used to distribute malware.

More examples of similar scams are "Payment-Related Document In Secure PDF Format Email Scam", "cPanel Warning - Account Shutdown Email Scam", and "Wells Fargo - Pending Wire Transfer Email Scam".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Cybercriminals distributing malware through email commonly send malicious links or files. These messages may include infected Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, compressed archives, scripts, or executable files. Opening these files or enabling additional features such as macros can result in malware being planted on the victim's device.

Email links may also redirect users to fraudulent websites that either initiate a malicious download automatically or deceive users into manually downloading and running malware. In most cases, malware depends on user interaction to infect a system.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Software should only be obtained from official websites or trusted app stores, and pirated programs, cracks, or key generators should be avoided. Regularly updating the operating system and applications, and performing routine scans with reliable security software, are also important.

Additionally, caution is essential when dealing with emails or messages from unknown senders. Suspicious links and unexpected attachments should not be opened. Content on untrustworthy websites, such as pop-ups, advertisements, or buttons, should not be interacted with as well.

Text presented in the "Email Account Closure" email letter:

Subject: [********]: Please confirm to continue.

Webmail Final Step Required: Email Account Closure

Hi ********,

We noticed that a request was recently submitted to close your email account: ********. This request is scheduled to be processed shortly.

If you initiated this action, no further steps are required.servers.

Regards,
Email Support Team

However, if you did not authorize this request or believe it was made in error, please cancel it immediately to avoid losing access to your account and its data.
Cancel Account Closure

Fake website used in this scam:

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Quick menu:

• What is Fake email account closure notification?
• 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?

These messages are typically generic and delivered to many recipients at the same time. The email addresses used are often obtained through data breaches, fraudulent or compromised websites, or other similar sources.

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

If an account may have been compromised, the user should change the password immediately. Any exposed personal information, including identification numbers or credit card details, should be reported to the appropriate authorities.

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

The likelihood of infection depends on the type of file and the actions taken by the user. Executable files or scripts can infect a system as soon as they are opened, and documents (or other files) do not infect computers after opening them, unless the user performs additional actions that activate the malware.

I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Opening or reading an email without clicking links or opening malicious attachments does infect a computer with malware.

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

Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most known malware, but more sophisticated or deeply embedded malware may require a complete system scan to be removed.