Do not trust the system has detected irregular activity email scam
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is system has detected irregular activity email scam?
It is common for an email to be used by scammers as a tool to trick recipients into providing personal information, for example, login credentials, credit card details, social security numbers. Recipients are encouraged to send sensitive information via email or enter it on the provided website. Typically, phishing emails look like letters from legitimate companies.
System has detected irregular activity email scam in detail
This phishing email is disguised as a letter from email service provider. Scammers behind it attempt to trick recipients into believing that a system has detected some irregular activity and stopped them from receiving emails. Their main goal is to trick recipients into clicking the "Resolve issues now" button designed to open deceptive websites.
The aforementioned button opens fake Yahoo Mail, Gmail, or other login pages - it depends on the recipient's email address. For example, if a recipient uses Gmail as an email service provider, then the "Resolve issues now" button opens a fake Gmail login page. If a recipient uses Yahoo Mail, then that button opens a fake Yahoo Mail login page, etc.
Scammers behind this phishing email attempt to trick recipients into providing their email login credentials (email addresses and passwords). Typically, stolen email login credentials are used to access personal emails, send emails scams, deliver malware, and for other malicious purposes.
It is also common that scammers try to use stolen login credentials to access other accounts (for example, social media, banking accounts). They succeed when users use the same login credentials for more than one account. For this reasons, it is strongly recommended to use different passwords.
| Name | System Has Detected Irregular Activity Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Recipients have stopped from receiving emails due to suspicious activity |
| Related Domain | test.ostetricamente[.]com |
| Detection Names (test.ostetricamente[.]com) | Certego (Phishing), CRDF (Malicious), CyRadar (Malicious), Fortinet (Phishing), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal) |
| Disguise | Letter from email service provider |
| 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. |
Phishing emails in general
In conclusion, this phishing email is used to extract login credentials for email accounts via fake Yahoo Mail, Gmail and other login pages. More examples of emails of this type are "Email Cloud Scam", "Voicemail Email Scam", and "Wage Increase Email Scam". It is important to know that email can be used as a channel for malware distribution.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
When cybercriminals use email to deliver malware, they send emails with malicious files attached to them or contain malicious links. In one way or another, their main goal is to trick recipients into downloading and opening a malicious file, for example, archive file (like ZIP, RAR), executable file (like EXE), PDF document, Microsoft Office document, JavaScript file.
It is important to mention that malicious documents opened with MS Office 2010 and newer releases do not install malware unless users enable macros commands (editing/content). MS Office 2010 and later releases have the "Protected Mode" feature that opens documents in read-only mode and disables editing functions.
Older MS Office versions (released before 2010) do not have the "Protected View" mode. Therefore, malicious documents opened with those versions infect computers as soon as they are opened.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Files and links in emails received from unknown, suspicious addresses should not be opened (especially if those emails are irrelevant). It is common that files or links in emails of this kind are used to deliver malware. Typically, those files are presented as important documents (for example, bank statements, purchase orders).
Unofficial websites, third-party downloaders, Peer-to-Peer networks (such as torrent clients, eMule, and so on), free file hosting pages, etc., should not be used as sources to download files, programs - they can be used to distribute malware. Files and programs should be downloaded from legitimate websites and via direct links.
Installed software has to be updated and activated with implemented functions (or tools) provided by its official developers. Third-party (unofficial) tools can be designed to infect computers. Moreover, it is against the law to use cracking tools to activate software (use pirated software).
Also, it is recommended to have a reputable antivirus or anti-spyware software installed and the operating system and run scans with it on a regular basis. 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 System has detected irregular activity email letter:
Subject: System deliveries error
Our system has detected irregular activity related to
As a precautionary measure, deliveries are put to stop.egain access proceed to resolve.
This link only works for the direct recipients of this message.
Resolve issues now
Screenshot of the fake Yahoo Mail login page used to steal login credentials:
Screenshot of the fake Gmail login page used to steal login credentials:
Yet another example of an email from "System Has Detected Irregular Activity" spam campaign:
Text presented within:
Subject: Notification about AUTHENTICATION activities
Dear -,
Our server detected some irregular activities in your email today!
-
Your security is currently under risk and failure to authenticate may lead to termination and vulnerability to threats & viruses.
Download the AUTHENTICATION form to secure your account***You will receive a confirmation if authentication is successful.***
Please note that if you ignore this notice, your account will be shutdown without further warning.
© 2024 - Inc. All rights reserved
Screenshot of the attached HTML document designed for phishing purposes:
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Quick menu:
- What is System Has Detected Irregular Activity 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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