How to spot scams like Your Account Will Be Suspended In 48hrs

What kind of scam is "Your Account Will Be Suspended In 48hrs"?

Our team has analyzed this email and concluded that it is a typical phishing email used to trick recipients into providing sensitive information. It is disguised as a letter from an email service provider. It contains a link designed to open a deceptive site requesting login credentials.

"Your Account Will Be Suspended In 48hrs" phishing email in detail

This email is disguised as a warning letter regarding a policy violation. It claims that an email account will be suspended in 48 hours if some settings are not changed. Scammers behind it seek to trick recipients into clicking the "Cancel Request" hyperlink and entering account login credentials (email address and password) on the opened site.

The website that the presented hyperlink opens is disguised as a legitimate Webmail login site. Scammers can use the provided login credentials to steal email and other accounts (if other accounts can be accessed with the same credentials).

Threat Summary:

Name	Your Account Will Be Suspended In 48hrs Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Email account will be deactivated due to policy violation
Disguise	Letter from an 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

In most cases, scammers behind phishing emails pretend to be legitimate companies or other entities. Their goal is to obtain sensitive information, for example, credit card details, passwords, social security numbers. It is important to know that emails can contain malicious links or attachments.

A couple examples of phishing emails are "E-mail To You From An Account Of Yours Email Scam", "Spam Quarantine Inbox Email Scam", "BNP PARIBAS Email Scam".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

When cybercriminals send emails containing malicious attachments or website links, they seek to trick recipients into executing a downloaded malicious file. Emails used to deliver malware are disguised as official, important letters from legitimate entities. In most cases, computers get infected through MS Office, PDF documents, JavaScript files, executables, archives.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Do not click links or open attachments in suspicious emails (in irrelevant emails sent from unknown addresses). Download files and apps from official pages. Avoid using other sources for downloading them. Update and activate the installed software using tools provided by its official developer. Never use cracking tools/installers for pirated software of third-party updaters.

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 "Your Account Will Be Suspended In 48hrs" email letter:

Subject: Warning: Your ******** Email Account will be suspended in 48hrs Due to Policy violation

Your Account will be suspended in 48hrs.

Your Account ******** will be terminated on: following a policy violation.
We understand your account is important to you. So if you think this was a mistake, Update your setting here. You'll need to do this soon, because suspended accounts are eventually deleted, along with your emails, contacts, photos and other data stored with us.
 
Request was made at this location               
Country: India
City: Mumbai
Device: Windows OS
Date: Fri Mar 11 2022 01:21:03 GMT-0800 (Pacific Standard Time)   
Cancel Request
    
                
You received this email to let you know about important changes to your Account and services.
© Webmail LLC. Legal Notices / Tranparency policy

Screenshot of the phishing website:

Another example of a phishing site promoted using "Your Account Will Be Suspended In 48hrs" spam email:

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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 Your Account Will Be Suspended In 48hrs 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?

Typically, scammers obtain email addresses when they get leaked after data breaches. Either way, they send the same email to all addresses in their databases (their emails are not personal).

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

If you have opened the presented phishing website and entered your password, change all passwords as soon as possible.

I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, is my computer infected?

Not all files infect computers right after they are opened (for example, malicious MS Office documents do not infect computers until macros commands are enabled). However, if you have opened an executable file, your computer is probably infected.

I have read the email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

No, opening an email is not harmful. Emails cannot cause any damage until links and files in them are opened.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate almost all known malware. When computers are infected with high-end malware, they must be scanned using the full scan option. It is necessary to detect malware hidden deep in the infected system.

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