What kind of scam is "Account Termination Notice"

What is "Account Termination Notice" scam?

After inspecting this email, we determined that it is a phishing scam. The message is disguised as an account closure notification from the recipient's email service provider, falsely claiming that the recipient requested their account be terminated. It is designed to trick recipients into entering their email credentials on a fraudulent login page, and it should be ignored to avoid having an email account compromised.

"Account Termination Notice" email scam overview

The email arrives with a subject line referencing a fake support ticket number and closure request ID, lending it an air of official authenticity. The message claims that the recipient submitted a request to close their email account and warns that all access will be permanently lost unless the closure is cancelled. It urges recipients to click a button labeled "CANCEL ACCOUNT CLOSURE" to reverse the supposed request.

Clicking that button leads to a fake webmail login page hosted on a Wix website. The page presents fields for an email address and password, alongside a "Log in via cPanelID" option, mimicking the look of a legitimate email account portal.

Recipients who enter their credentials on this page send them directly to the scammers. With access to a victim's email account, cybercriminals can reset passwords on linked services, impersonate the victim, or use the compromised inbox to launch further phishing attacks against contacts.

Email accounts often serve as a master key to many other online accounts. Losing control of one can lead to cascading consequences, including identity theft and financial loss.

Neither the email service providers referenced in this scam nor the Wix platform are associated with this campaign in any way. The scammers are exploiting a legitimate website-building service to host their fraudulent login page.

Email scams in general

In conclusion, this email is a phishing scam disguised as an account termination notice from the recipient's email provider. Its goal is to steal email credentials through a fraudulent webmail login page. Recipients should ignore the email and refrain from clicking any links to protect themselves from account theft and identity fraud. Sometimes, scams like this are also used to distribute malware.

More examples of similar phishing campaigns targeting email account credentials are Account Recovered Successfully, Documents Are Waiting For Your Approval, and Verizon Bill Payment Could Not Be Processed.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Threat actors often distribute malware by attaching malicious files to emails or embedding links to harmful websites. Common file formats used include executables, Microsoft Office documents, ZIP or RAR archives, PDFs, and scripts. Opening these files, or enabling features such as malicious macro commands, can trigger a malware installation chain.

Emails may also direct recipients to websites that automatically push malware to the visitor's device, or that instruct users to download and execute a harmful file manually. In most cases, some form of user interaction is required before the infection process begins.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Exercise caution with unexpected emails, particularly those urging urgent action or claiming something is wrong with your account. Do not click links or open attachments in messages from unknown or unverified senders. If an email appears to be from a service you use, navigate to that service directly through your browser rather than following any embedded links.

Download software only from official websites and trusted app stores. Avoid cracked software, key generators, or applications from unofficial third-party sources, as these are common vehicles for malware distribution. Keeping your operating system and installed applications up to date also helps close security vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit.

Use a reputable anti-malware tool and keep it updated. If you have already opened a suspicious email attachment, scan your system with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to detect and remove any threats that may have been installed.

Text presented in the "Account Termination Notice" email letter:

Subject: 7987764188: Closure Request Received [Support ID: 814956] on 16 July, 2026

User Portal

Account Termination Notice

You recently requested we should close your email account.
All email access will be lost if you proceed with this cancellation.
Kindly cancel the account closure action below if it was done by error.
[CANCEL ACCOUNT CLOSURE]

System-Desk.
Organization: Corporation. All rights reserved.

A fake webmail login page used in this scam:

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Quick menu:

• What is Account Termination Notice 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?

Scammers send these messages in bulk to large numbers of recipients. Email addresses are typically gathered through data breaches, fake websites, and other similar methods. These emails are not personally targeted.

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

If you entered your email credentials on the fake login page, change your password immediately. Also update passwords on any other accounts that share the same credentials, and contact your email provider's support team if you suspect unauthorized access has occurred.

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

Executable files generally begin installing malware as soon as they are opened. Document types such as PDFs or Word files typically require additional user interaction, like enabling macros, before any malicious activity starts. The level of risk depends on the file format and how you interacted with it.

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 only occurs if you open an attachment, click a malicious link, or otherwise interact with harmful content inside the message.

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

Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most known malware. Running a full system scan is recommended to ensure that any threats installed through malicious email attachments are found and eliminated.