How to spot phishing emails like Email policy & privacy violation

What kind of scam is "Email policy & privacy violation"?

Our team has examined this email and learned that scammers use it to steal sensitive information. It is disguised as a letter from Microsoft. It also contains a hyperlink designed to open a phishing website requesting an email address and password.

"Email policy & privacy violation" email scam in detail

The email is disguised as a letter regarding Microsoft account suspension due to privacy violation. It claims that the account was used to send unsolicited emails and will be suspended within 48 hours. Scammers attempt to trick recipients into opening the provided "Check Account Activities" hyperlink leading to a deceptive website.

After analyzing the phishing website, we found that its design depends on the recipient's email address. For instance, if the recipient uses Bing as its email service provided, the hyperlink in the email opens a page designed to look like the legitimate bing.com sign-in page. Either way, that link always opens a page asking to provide an email address and password.

Threat Summary:

Name	Email policy & privacy violation Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Email account was used to send unsolicited emails
Disguise	Letter from the 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

As a rule, phishing emails are disguised as letters from legitimate companies or other entities. They are used to trick recipients into providing sensitive information. Most scammers attempt to obtain login credentials, credit card details, and other information.

More examples of similar emails are "Your Password Expires Today Email Scam", "DHL Shipment Details Email Scam", "Signed In To From A New Windows Device Email Scam". Emails can be used not only to extract sensitive information but also to distribute malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Emails used to deliver malware contain a malicious website link or attachment. Computers get infected via emails after a malicious file is executed. The most commonly used files to distribute malware are MS Office, PDF, and other documents, executables, archives like ZIP, RAR, JavaScript files. However, not all files infect computers right after they are opened.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Examine suspicious emails before opening links or files presented in them. Usually, emails used to deliver malware are irrelevant to their recipients and sent from unknown addresses. Download software and files from legitimate sources such as official pages and platforms. Avoid opening downloads from shady pages, third-party downloaders, P2P networks, etc.

Update and activate the operating system and programs installed on it using tools provided by the official developers. 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 policy & privacy violation" email letter:

Subject: Account suspension Due To Privacy Violation

Email policy & privacy violation
-
 
Your Account was used to send unsolicited emails, which violates our user policy.
Your account will be suspended within the next 48hrs. If this wasn't you, check your account activities now.
Check Account Activities
    
                
You received this email to let you know about important changes to your Account and services.
© Webmail LLC. Legal Notices / Tranparency policy

Deceptive website opened via the link presented in email:

Another example of Email policy & privacy violation-themed spam email promoting an identical phishing site:

Text presented within:

Subject: Caution : Email policy & privacy violation

 

Email policy & privacy violation
******

Your Account was used to send unsolicited emails, which violates our user policy.
Your account will be suspended within the next 48hrs. If this wasn't you, check your account activities now.
Check Account Activities
            
You received this email to let you know about important changes to your Account and services.
© Webmail LLC. Legal Notices / Tranparency policy

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▼ 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 Email policy & privacy violation phishing email?
• 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 the same email to all addresses in their database. In other words, phishing emails are not personal.

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

Change all passwords and make sure not to use the same password for multiple accounts.

Can emails be used to deliver malware?

Yes. However, computers get infected after a malicious file is executed (opening emails is harmless). Typically, emails used to distribute malware contain malicious links or attachments.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and remove malware. When a computer is infected with high-end malware that hides deep in the system, it must be scanned using a full scan. Otherwise, the antivirus software may not detect that kind of malware.

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