Do not trust Inode Quota Exceeded scam emails

What is the node Quota Exceeded email scam?

Commonly, cyber criminals use emails to trick recipients into providing personal information (such as credit card details, name, surname, bank account number), installing malware on the operating system (e.g., ransomware, Trojan), and transferring money.

Generally, they send emails purporting to be from a legitimate company, organization or other entity. This particular email is disguised as a final notice message from cPanel (web hosting control panel software developer) stating that a specific domain has reached its Inode quota (a website has reached maximum allowed resources).

Inodes contain information about the files, emails, directories, etc., stored on the server.

Usually, the number of inodes is limited, and once its limit is reached, users cannot create or upload new files, receive emails, and their cPanel starts showing notifications informing that no temporary files can no longer be stored on the account.

Scammers behind this email claim that a specific domain has reached its inode quota. Their main goal is to trick recipients into opening the attached HTML file and entering information such as domain name, panel username, and password.

They attempt to trick recipients into believing that, by entering the required details, they will log into cPanel and automatically add more inodes to their hosting account. In fact, the attached HTML file sends entered information to a server controlled by cyber criminals behind this scam.

Stolen information can be used to access hosting accounts and take control of the domain, download and modify files, and use them for a variety of illegal activities.

Depending on the hijacked website, cyber criminals may gain access to personally identifiable information, credit card data, and much more. Note that stolen login credentials for hosting platforms such as cPanel could be sold on the dark web as well.

Threat Summary:

Name	Inode Quota Exceeded email scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	A website has exceeded its inode limit
Disguise	A final notice letter from cPanel
Symptoms	Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of the computer.
Distribution methods	Deceptive emails, rogue online pop-up ads, search engine poisoning techniques, misspelled domains.
Damage	Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

In conclusion, scammers behind this email attempt to trick recipients into believing that they have received a final notice message from cPanel regarding the exceeded limit of inodes, and sending their cPanel login credentials via an attached HTML file.

More examples of similar email scams used to extract login credentials are "GoDaddy Email Scam", "Banca Sella Email Scam", and "PASSWORD EXPIRATION NOTICE Email Scam". As mentioned, email can be used as a channel to deliver malware. Some examples of malware variants that cyber criminals have distributed via email are LokiBot, Qakbot, Agent Tesla, and GuLoader.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

When cyber criminals use email as a channel to deliver malware, they send attempt to trick recipients into opening a malicious email attachment or a file downloaded via a website link. Usually, they send emails claiming to be official, important messages from legitimate companies.

Recipients infect their computers when they open a malicious Microsoft Office, PDF document, archive file (ZIP, RAR, or another), JavaScript file, executable file (such as .exe).

In Microsoft Office versions released prior to 2010, malware download/installation begins when an infectious document is opened, however, newer versions have "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic execution of macros. Instead, users are asked to enable macro commands (i.e., to enable editing/content) and hence infection processes can only be started by manually enabling macros.

How to avoid installation of malware

Do not trust irrelevant emails that have files attached (or contain website links) and are received from unknown, suspicious addresses. Software should not be downloaded or installed through third party downloaders, installers, unofficial pages or other similar sources/tools.

Use only official websites and direct links. Installed software should never be updated or activated with third party, unofficial tools, since they can install malware. Furthermore, it is illegal to use third party tools to activate licensed software.

The only legitimate way to update and activate software is to use tools and functions that are provided by the official developers. Regularly scan your computer with reputable antivirus or anti-spyware software and keep this software up to date.

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 Inode Quota Exceeded email:

Subject: Inode quota exceeded : "********"

Inode quota notification for : "********".

Inode Quota Exceeded!!
Final Notice for Domain : ********
The Domain "********"  has reached its inode quota.
Exceeding your inode quota can affect your website, uploads and email.
To avoid service interruption we recommend that you find the attachment file that is attached to this email to
automatically add more inodes to your hosting package now
 
cP
Copyright© 2021 cPanel, Inc.

Screenshot of the HTML file ("cpanel -Add more inodes.html") attached to this email:

Text in this page:

C-Panel Admin              

Please Log-in with your Domain name and panel username and password to automatically add more Inodes to your hosting portal.  

Login
Domain Name
                                                        

Panel Username

Panel Password

Manage Your C-panel

Instant automatic malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Quick menu:

• What is Inode Quota Exceeded spam?
• 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.

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