What is the "Documents Are Waiting For Your Approval" email scam

What kind of email is "Documents Are Waiting For Your Approval"?

We have inspected this email and concluded that it is a phishing scam. The message is designed to appear as an automated notification from the recipient's organization's document management system, claiming that three documents are awaiting their approval. It should be ignored to avoid having email login credentials stolen.

"Documents Are Waiting For Your Approval" email scam overview

The email arrives with the subject "Updated SOA" for your review and approval and presents itself as an automated alert from a document management system. It claims that three new documents, including overdue invoices, are waiting for the recipient's approval in a secure portal, which is intended to create a sense of urgency.

The Check documents button links to a page hosted at usc1.contabostorage[.]com, a Contabo cloud storage service that scammers are exploiting to host phishing content. The page identifies the recipient's email provider based on their email address and displays a fake login form that mimics that provider's interface.

The screenshot shows a fake Gmail sign-in overlay as an example. Recipients who use a different email service would be shown a fake login page matching their own provider instead. Any credentials entered into this form are sent directly to the cybercriminals behind the campaign.

Stolen email credentials can cause serious harm. With access to a victim's inbox, attackers can hijack linked accounts, read private correspondence, extract sensitive information, and use the compromised mailbox to send further phishing messages to the victim's contacts.

Contabo and any document management services implicitly referenced in this email have no connection to this scam. The criminals are simply abusing legitimate cloud storage infrastructure to make their phishing content harder to detect and take down.

Email scams in general

In conclusion, this email is a phishing scam disguised as an internal document approval notification. Its purpose is to steal email login credentials through a fake login page hosted on abused cloud storage. At times, campaigns like this are also leveraged to deliver malware, making it important to avoid any interaction with such messages.

More examples of similar scam emails are Verizon Bill Payment Could Not Be Processed, Confidential Messages Queued, and Migration Action Required.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Threat actors frequently use email to spread malware, typically by attaching malicious files directly to their messages. These attachments can take many forms - executables, compressed archives, PDF documents, Microsoft Office files, JavaScript scripts, and others. Opening such a file can trigger a malware installation chain on the victim's device.

In other cases, emails contain a link rather than an attachment. Following the link may lead to a website that automatically downloads malware, or one that prompts the visitor to manually download and run a file. In either scenario, some form of user interaction is generally required before malware can execute on the system.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Treat unsolicited emails - especially those urging immediate action - with skepticism. Avoid opening attachments or clicking links in messages from unfamiliar senders. Even emails that appear to come from known organizations or internal systems may be counterfeit.

Download software only from official developer websites and verified platforms. Avoid pirated programs, cracks, and key generators, as these are commonly used to distribute malware. Keep your operating system and all installed applications up to date, since patches regularly address security vulnerabilities that attackers exploit.

Enabling two-factor authentication on important accounts adds a meaningful layer of protection against credential theft. Avoid granting notification permissions to unfamiliar websites, as these can be used to push further scam content. If you have already interacted with a suspicious attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to remove any malware that may have been installed.

Text presented in the "Documents Are Waiting For Your Approval" email letter:

Subject: "Updated SOA" for your review and approval

Document Management

Three new documents are waiting for your approval in your secure document portal – including overdue invoices.
[Check documents]

This notification was automatically generated by your organization's document management system.

Confidentiality Notice: This message and all attachments are intended solely for the intended recipient and may contain confidential or privileged information. Any unauthorized use, disclosure, or reproduction is prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please delete it immediately and notify the sender.

© 2026

A fake email login page used in this scam:

Instant automatic malware removal:

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Quick menu:

• What is Documents Are Waiting For Your Approval phishing scam?
• 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 sent in bulk to large numbers of recipients rather than targeting anyone specifically. Cybercriminals collect email addresses through data breaches, fake websites, and similar methods. Receiving one of these emails does not mean the sender has any personal information about you.

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

Change your email account password immediately and update the credentials for any other accounts where the same password is used. If you also disclosed financial information such as credit card details, contact your bank or card provider as soon as possible to report the incident.

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

Executable files often trigger malicious processes as soon as they are opened. Other formats, such as Office documents or PDFs, may require additional steps from the user - such as enabling macros - before malware can run. Whether your system is at risk depends on the file type and how you interacted with it after opening.

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

Simply reading or viewing an email does not put your computer at risk. Infection requires the user to click a malicious link, open a harmful file, or otherwise interact with malicious content. If you only read the email, your system should be unaffected.

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

Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and removing most known malware threats. That said, performing a full system scan is important, as certain sophisticated threats can conceal themselves deep within the system and may require a thorough scan to be fully identified and removed.