How to spot scams like "Messages Held For Security Reasons"

What kind of scam is "Messages Held For Security Reasons"?

We have reviewed the message and determined that it is a phishing attempt. The scammers behind this deceptive email pretend to be an email service provider. Their goal is to trick unsuspecting recipients into following the provided instructions and entering personal information on a fake website.

More about the "Messages Held For Security Reasons" scam email

The email is presented as a notification from the administration of the recipient's email provider. It claims that the recipient has five incoming messages pending review, which have been temporarily held by their mailbox for security reasons. It urges the recipient to review and authorize delivery of these messages to ensure important communications are received while maintaining mailbox security.

Clicking the provided link ("Review Messages") opens a fake email account login website that mimics the design of the recipient's provider (e.g., Gmail or Yahoo Mail). This site is designed to pilfer login credentials (email addresses and passwords) for email accounts. If stolen, this information can be used to access accounts.

Hijacked email accounts can be exploited to steal more personal details from emails, send scam messages, distribute malware, and more. Also, cybercriminals can try to gain access to social media, banking, or other platforms using the stolen login details. This could result in issues such as identity theft, financial loss, or other negative outcomes.

Conclusion

Overall, this phishing scam is designed to steal login credentials by posing as a legitimate notification from the recipient's email provider. Compromised accounts can be used to steal personal information, spread scams or malware, and attempt access to other online services. Thus, such emails should be recognized and ignored.

Examples of similar scams are "Webmail Support Email Scam", "Webmail - Email Account Closure Scam", and "Mail Services Notification - Disable Notice Email Scam". Fraudulent messages like these can also be used to distribute malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Email is a common channel for distributing malware. Attackers send messages that contain malicious attachments or links designed to infect the recipient's device. The attachments may appear to be regular files, such as PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, ZIP/RAR archives, executable files, or scripts, but they contain malware.

Infection usually occurs when the user opens the file or takes additional actions after opening it. In other cases, the email includes a link that leads to a fake or stolen website. This site may automatically download malware or manipulate users into downloading and running a malicious program themselves.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Make sure your operating system and all installed applications are regularly updated. Use reputable security software and perform periodic scans to find and remove potential threats. Get programs from official websites or well-known app stores, and avoid using pirated applications, cracks, or key generators.

Do not interact with suspicious ads, pop-ups, or links on unreliable websites, and never allow such sites to send you notifications. Also, treat unexpected or irrelevant emails with caution, particularly those that contain attachments or links.

Text presented in the "Messages Held For Security Reasons" email letter:

Subject: Past Due Notification: Action Required to Avoid Service Interruption

Dear ********,

Action required: You have 5 incoming messages pending review.

For security reasons, your mailbox has temporarily held these messages. Please review and authorize delivery to your inbox.
Review Messages

This process helps ensure important communications reach you while maintaining mailbox security.

Sincerely,

******** Administration

This notification was sent to ********
You can manage notification preferences from your account settings.

Fake site used in this scam:

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Quick menu:

• What is Messages Held For Security Reasons 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?

These emails are typically sent to large lists of addresses collected from leaked databases, fraudulent websites, or other sources, meaning recipients are usually not specifically targeted.

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

If an account could be compromised, users should immediately change the password. If personal or financial information might have been exposed, they should notify the appropriate authorities.

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

Some files, like executables, can launch malware as soon as they are opened, while others, such as Word or Excel documents, typically require the user to enable macros or perform other actions to activate the threat. The infection risk varies depending on the file type.

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

Opening an email alone usually does not infect a device, even if the message contains malicious content (file or link).

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

Combo Cleaner can find and eliminate most known threats, but a full system scan is advised to detect more complex or concealed threats.