How to spot fake letters like "Webmail Password Expired" scam email

What is "Webmail Password Expired"?

We have inspected this email and determined that it is a fake letter from an email service provider. Scammers behind this email aim to lure unsuspecting recipients into providing personal information on a phishing page. Recipients of this (or any similar) email should not open the provided site and provide any information.

More about the "Webmail Password Expired" scam email

This email appears to be a phishing letter that claims to be from a "Webmail account team". It informs recipients that their passwords have expired and encourages them to click a button to continue using the same passwords.

Also, the email includes "Learn how to make your account more secure", "continue with the same password", and "Review your security info" links which direct recipients to a phishing website. That phishing page requests visitors to provide an email address and password to sign in (to access a mailbox).

With access to email accounts, scammers can gather personal information such as full names, dates of birth, and addresses, which can be used to impersonate victims or open accounts in their names. Also, they can blackmail victims by threatening to release sensitive or embarrassing information to their contacts if they do not pay a ransom.

Moreover, scammers can send spam emails or phishing emails to other contacts in address books or personal networks, attempting to trick them into revealing personal information or clicking on malicious links.

Threat Summary:

Name	Webmail Password Expired Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Email account password has expired
Related Domain	mediiums[.]shop
Detection Names (mediiums[.]shop)	Avira (Phishing), Combo Cleaner (Phishing), ESET (Phishing), Kaspersky (Phishing), Lionic (Phishing), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
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

Typically, scammers behind phishing emails impersonate legitimate entities, such as a banks, social media platforms, or online retailers, in order to trick recipients into divulging sensitive information or clicking on malicious links. Phishing emails often create a sense of urgency in recipients, urging them to take immediate action to avoid negative consequences.

Most scammers use such emails to trick recipients into providing login credentials, credit card details, social numbers, ID card information, or other details. Examples of phishing emails are "Trunk Box Delivery Email Scam", "Password Expiry Notification Email Scam", and "Junk Filter Email Scam". Threat actors can also use email to deliver malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

For threat actors to succeed, recipients must download and execute malware by themselves. Malware is activated when recipients open malicious attachments or click on links that are included in email messages. However, not all malicious files infect computers immediately after opening them.

Cybercriminals distribute malware using various file types, such as malicious MS Office or PDF documents, executables, JavaScript files, archives, ISO files, and others.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Do not open any links or files in emails from unknown sources, especially if they are irrelevant. These types of emails may contain malware. Download software from trusted sources, such as official pages and verified stores. Avoid clicking on ads that appear on questionable websites.

Keep the operating system and installed software up to date. Never use third-party tools to update or activate any software. Use reputable antivirus software and conduct regular scans for threats on your computer. 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 "Webmail Password Expired" email letter:

Subject: Email Notification

Webmail Account
Your Webmail password expired
Your password for the Webmail account  - expired today at 3/13/2023 7:20:53 a.m..

Use the button below  if you wish to continue with the same password

continue with same password

1. Learn how to make your account more secure
2. Review your security info.
You can opt out or change where you receive security notifications.
Thanks,
Webmail account team.
© 2023 - Corporation. All rights reserved

Phishing website promoted via this scam email:

Another example of an email from "Webmail Password Expired" spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: Password Expired Notice

Webmail Password Messager

Your ******** expires today 18/07/2024 , Please use below to continue with this mail box.

keep my password

Screenshot of the promoted phishing site:

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 Webmail Password Expired phishing scam?
• 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 out spam emails to thousands of people with the hope that at least one person will fall for it. These emails are never personalized and are identical for all recipients.

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

In the event that you have provided any account credentials, it is important to change all passwords immediately. If you have also provided other personal information, such as credit card details or ID card information, it is recommended that you contact the corresponding authorities as soon as possible.

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

If the file was executable, it likely injected malware. However, if it was a document such as a PDF or DOC, you may have avoided infection since simply opening the document is not always enough for malware to infiltrate the operating system.

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

Simply opening an email is harmless and will not lead to any system infections. However, clicking on links within the email or opening attached files can potentially lead to system infections.

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

Combo Cleaner can find and remove nearly all known malware infections. However, it's important to keep in mind that high-end malware often hides deep within the system. Therefore, running a full system scan is necessary to ensure complete removal.

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