How to avoid getting scammed via Nextiva email scam?

What is Nextiva email scam?

Usually, cybercriminals behind email scams attempt to trick recipients into paying them money or providing personal information (e.g., credit card details, social security numbers, login credentials). In most cases, scammers pretend to be legitimate companies, organizations, or other entities to give their emails legitimacy.

In this case, scammers attempt to trick recipients into believing that they have received an email from Nextiva - a VoIP (voice-over-internet-protocol) company. Their goal is to trick recipients into providing their Microsoft account login credentials.

Scammers behind this email scam try to trick recipients into believing that they have received two voice messages and one fax message and checking them via the provided website ("View Now" hyperlink). That website is designed to look like the official Microsoft page that can be used to log into the Microsoft account.

However, it is a fake website used to trick visitors into entering their Microsoft account login credentials (email address, phone number or Skype name and password). Stolen Microsoft accounts might be used to access personal, sensitive documents, images, databases, or other data.

Depending on the sensitivity of the obtained data, it could be misused in various ways. For instance, stolen credit card details and other banking-related information could be used to make unauthorized purchases, transactions, steal identities.

Also, stolen accounts could be used to send spam, deliver malware, trick other people into making money transactions, and for other malicious purposes. Also, scammers may sell stolen information to third parties (other cybercriminals), or try to use Microsoft account login credentials to log into other accounts and hijack them as well.

Threat Summary:

Name	Nextiva Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient has received two voicemails and one fax message
Disguise	Letter from Nextiva company
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.

There are many examples of different email scams used to extract personal information, some of them are "Account Missing Or Incomplete", "Chase Account Has Been Locked Email Scam", and "DHL Package Tracking Confirmation Email Scam". It is important to mention that most email scams of this type contain logos and names of legitimate companies.

Also, emails can be used to trick recipients into installing malware via malicious attachments or website links. A couple of examples of emails used to deliver malware are "Contract Agreement Email Virus" and "Pending Order Email Virus".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Usually, emails that cybercriminals send with the purpose to trick recipients into infecting their computers with malware contain a malicious attachment or a website link. Malware gets installed when users download and open a malicious Microsoft Office (e.g., Word, Excel) document, PDF document, JavaScript file, executable file (e.g., EXE), a file extracted from archive file (e.g., ZIP, RAR), or another file.

It is important to mention that malicious documents opened with Microsoft Office 2010 or newer ask permission to enable macros commands (editing, content). Those documents cannot install malware if they are not allowed to run malicious macros.

Although, malicious documents opened with older MS Office versions do not have the "Protected View" mode and install malware automatically.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Software, files should be downloaded from legitimate pages and using direct links. Files downloaded via Peer-to-Peer networks, third-party downloaders, from unofficial pages, ete., can be designed to install malware.

The operating system and installed programs must be updated with implemented functions or tools that their official developers provide/have designed. Both unofficial activation ('cracking') tools and third-party updaters can be used to trick users into infecting their computers.

Also, it is against the law to activate legitimate programs with various third-party ('cracking') tools. Attachments and website links in irrelevant emails received from suspicious, unknown addresses should not be opened as well. Quite often, emails of this kind contain malicious links or files designed to install malicious software.

It is worth mentioning such emails can be designed to look important, official, etc. Additionally, it is recommended to scan operating system for threats regularly and do it with a reputable antivirus or anti-spyware software.

If you've already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the Nextiva email scam:

Subject: New note message...

NEXTIVA

Hello; (-)

(3) NEW FILES RECEIVED

DESCRIPTION

(2) Voicemails (1) Fax

RECEIPT STATUS : Message Delivered

DATE/TIME : Wednesday June 02 2021 10:50 GMT

AUDIO / SPEED: wav/ 10307 bps

REFERENCE : Nex749689819k

View Now >

NEXTIVA is the #1 rated Business Phone System.

Copyright 2021 Nextiva. All rights Reserved

Fake website used to steal Microsoft account login credentials:

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Quick menu:

• What is Nextiva 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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