How to spot scams like "You Have Blocked Emails Created"

What kind of email is "You Have Blocked Emails Created"?

Our team has analyzed this email and found that it is a scam email regarding blocked emails. Scammers behind it aim to trick recipients into opening a phishing website and providing personal information on it. Emails of this type should be marked as spam and deleted.

More about the "You Have Blocked Emails Created" scam email

This email urges recipients to check recent activities. It claims that there are three blocked emails and provides a fake ID. It says that recipients must confirm that they are the owners of the email account to view blocked emails. Clicking the "CONFIRM NOW" button opens a fake email account login page (a phishing website).

The phishing site promoted via this scam mimics a login page accordingly to the recipients' email addresses. For instance, it masquerades as a Yahoo Mail login page if the recipient uses Yahoo as the email service provider. In all cases, the purpose of this phishing site is to extract passwords.

Typically, scammers use the stolen login information to steal online accounts and (or) sell them to third parties. Depending on the type of stolen accounts, they can be used to send spam (including emails containing malicious links or attachments), make fraudulent purchases and transactions, steal identities, etc.

Threat Summary:

Name	You Have Blocked Emails Created Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Three emails have been blocked
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.

Similar scam emails in general

Phishing emails usually look like official/important/letters from legitimate entities (e.g., companies or organizations). Recipients are asked to provide credit card details, login information, ID card information, or other details directly via email or on a phishing website.

Examples of phishing emails are "Just Finished Sending 300 Emails Scam", "Messages Delivery Failure Email Scam", and "A Request To Disable Your Email Has Been Received Scam". It is common for emails to be used not only to extract sensitive information from recipients but also to trick them into infecting their computers.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Links and attachments received from cybercriminals are only harmful if opened. Typically, threat actors aim to trick users into opening malicious sites or MS Office, PDF documents, executables, archives (their contents), ISO files, or JavaScript files. Users infect computers after opening those files.

MS Office documents infect computers after enabling macros commands (editing or content). Archive files are also harmless until compressed malicious files are opened/executed.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Download software from reliable sources such as official pages and stores only. Keep the operating system and installed programs updated. Double-check suspicious emails (e.g., irrelevant emails sent from unknown addresses). Especially when they contain attachments or links.

Avoid downloads from shad sites, P2P networks, third-party downloaders, etc. Do not use third-party tools to update or activate any software or the operating system. Do not trust ads and links on questionable websites.

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 "You Have Blocked Emails Created" email letter:

Subject: Check Recent Activities!

Wenesday,13 at 10:22 AM

1. ********

You have 3 blocked emails created  ID: 43302,  Subject:  Re : Wire Transfer
We need to validate you as the owner of this email ********
Kindly proceed below to view blocked emails.
 
CONFIRM NOW

This email was sent to ********

Screenshot of the phishing website mimicking the Microsoft Bing login page:

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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 You Have Blocked Emails Created 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 sent the same phishing letter to all recipients. It is not personal.

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

If you opened the phishing page promoted via this email and entered your password (and clicked the "Sign in" button), change your passwords as soon as possible.

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

It depends on the file you have opened. For instance, executables usually infect computers after opening them, and MS Office documents inject malware after opening them and enabling macros commands.

I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?

It is safe to open emails containing malicious attachments or links. Computers cannot be infected without opening files or links in emails used to deliver malware.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner will remove malware. It can detect all known malware infections. High-end malware usually hides deep in the system. In such cases, computers must be scanned using the full system scan option.

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