How to recognize phishing emails like Email Removal Notice scam?

What is Email Removal Notice email scam?

Typically, scammers use phishing emails to trick recipients into providing personal/sensitive information like credit card details, login credentials. Scammers behind this email seek to obtain email account login credentials through a phishing website.

Email removal notice email scam in detail

Scammers attempt to trick recipients into believing that their email account/email address will be deleted from the server in the next 24 hours from receiving this email. They encourage recipients to cancel the removal or proceed with it using the provided hyperlinks.

Both "Cancel Removal" and "Continue Removal" hyperlinks open a phishing website asking to provide an email address and password. Scammers could use the provided login credentials to steal email, social media, and other accounts and misuse them for malicious purposes (for example, to deliver malware, send phishing emails).

Threat Summary:

Name	Email Removal Notice
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Email address will be removed from the server within 24 hours
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. ▼ 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.

Phishing emails in general

Most phishing emails are designed to look like letters received from legitimate entities and contain a link (or links). They are used to extract personal information. More examples of similar emails are "Sparkasse Email Scam", "Office 365 Email Scam", and "Voicemail Email Scam". Scammers can also use email to deliver malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malicious emails contain links or attachments (PDF or MS Office documents, JavaScript files, executable or other files). Users infect computers by opening them (or files downloaded through opened links). Malicious documents opened with MS Office 2010 and later versions do not infect computers unless users enable macros commands.

Older MS Office versions do not have the "Protected View" mode. Thus, malicious documents opened with those versions do not ask for permission to enable macros commands.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Update and (or) activate installed programs using tools provided by their official developers. Third-party tools should never be used for that. Avoid opening attachments and links in irrelevant emails received from unknown (or suspicious) addresses. Use official websites and direct links to download software and files.

Scan the operating system for threats regularly. It is recommended to use reputable security software and always keep it up to date. 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 Email Removal Notice email scam:

Subject: Email Removal Notice

Email Removal Notice

Dear -

- removal from our server - have been approved.
due to ignorance of previous verification warning.

Removal will occure in the next 24 hours from now.

We recommend you to do any of the two below.

Cancel Removal

Continue Removal

Screenshot of a website used to steal login credentials (email addresses and passwords):

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Quick menu:

• What is Email Removal Notice 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.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did I receive this email?

In most cases, such emails are not personal. Scammers behind them send the exact same letter to thousands of people hoping that someone will fall for it.

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

Recipients who have provided their account login credentials should change all passwords immediately - scammers could try to use obtained email addresses and passwords (or other login credentials) to access more than one account.

Can emails be used to distribute malware?

Yes, emails can be malicious. Recipients infect their computers by opening malicious attachments or files downloaded via website links included in such emails.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner is can detect and eliminating almost all known malware infections. High-end malware could hide deep in the system. Therefore, users should scan the system using a full scan.

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