How to recognize fake emails like the "Validate Your Wallet" scam email

What kind of scam is "Validate Your Wallet"?

We have inspected this email and found that it is a phishing email sent by scammers who attempt to trick recipients into providing sensitive information. It urges recipients to validate their cryptocurrency wallets via the provided website - a fake page requesting to enter login information.

More about the "Validate Your Wallet" scam email

This scam email urges recipients to validate their wallets to avoid the scheduled deactivation. It claims that recipients must enter the 12-word passphrase to validate their wallets. The "Validate Wallet" button in this email opens a phishing website - a deceptive page disguised as a crypto wallet login page.

It is clear that scammers behind this phishing campaign aim to steal cryptocurrency from hijacked crypto wallets. It is also possible that scammers may try to access other accounts (e.g., email or social media accounts) with the obtained login information. Thus, no information should be provided on websites opened via emails of this kind.

Threat Summary:

Name	Validate Your Wallet Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Crypto wallet must be validated to avoid deactivation
Disguise	Letter from the crypto wallet 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 are disguised as important/official/urgent letters from legitimate companies, organizations, real people, etc. They often include real logos. Scammers behind these emails ask recipients to provide personal information (e.g., login credentials, credit card details, or social security numbers).

Recipients are requested to provide sensitive information directly via email or on fake/deceptive websites. Examples of phishing emails are "Send Us Your Company Updated Bank Info Email Scam", "Update Your Email Account Scam", and "Your Account Is Set To Close Email Scam".

Email can also be used to trick recipients into infecting their computers.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Phishing emails and emails used to deliver malware are quite similar. The main difference is that files or links in emails used to deliver malware are malicious. Users infect computers via links or attachments/files received via email.

Threat actors use malicious MS Office, PDF documents, JavaScript files, executables, archives, ISO files, and other files to trick users into executing malware.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Be careful about opening links or files in irrelevant emails sent from suspicious/unknown addresses. Double-check suspicious emails before opening their contents. Avoid downloads from shady sources. Download software and files from official websites and verified stores only.

Do not trust advertisements on questionable websites. Keep all installed software (and the operating system) updated. Use reputed antivirus software and run system scans regularly. 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 "Validate Your Wallet" email letter:

Subject: Final warning: Account deactivation request

Do this to validate your wallet,

To validate your wallet enter the 12 word passphrase from your wallet in the right order. after doing this your wallet will be completely validated and the scheduled deactivation will be removed automatically right after.

Please use the "validate wallet" button below.
Validate Wallet

We appreciate your support and understanding, As we work to keep the blockchain a secure environment..

Instant automatic malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ 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 Validate Your Wallet 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?

This phishing email was sent to all people whose addresses the scammers have in their database. This means that even people who do not use crypto wallets received this letter.

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

If you entered your 12-word passphrase or other login information on the opened phishing website, contact your crypto wallet's service provider to see if they can help you to recover your account.

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

If you have opened an executable file, your computer is probably infected. In other cases, computers do not get infected until additional steps are performed (e.g., macros commands in malicious MS Office documents are enabled).

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

No, emails cannot infect computers. Users infect computers via links or files in emails sent by cybercriminals.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and remove almost all known malware. It is important to know that high-end malware usually hides deep in the system. Thus, it is required to run a full system scan to remove high-end malware from infected computers.

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