How to spot fake emails like "Suspicious Activities On Your Crypto Wallet"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What is "Suspicious Activities On Your Crypto Wallet"?
While analyzing the email, our team found that it is a phishing attempt. The perpetrators behind the email intend to deceive recipients into revealing sensitive information on a fraudulent website. The email is designed to resemble a security alert from a cryptocurrency wallet service provider.
More about the "Suspicious Activities On Your Crypto Wallet" scam email
The subject of the email implies urgency and seriousness. The email states that suspicious activity has been detected on the recipient's cryptocurrency wallet and prompts the recipient to click on a link included in the email. The link is accompanied by a request to enter a 12-word phrase to secure the wallet.
This email aims to create a sense of urgency and panic by stating that the recipient's wallet is at risk and that action must be taken immediately to prevent further damage. The email also attempts to reassure the recipient that the problem can be resolved easily and encourages the recipient to click on the provided link.
However, the email is a phishing attempt, with the link leading to a fraudulent website designed to steal sensitive information. 12-word phrases used to secure a cryptocurrency wallet are known as "seed phrases" or "recovery phrases".
These phrases are generated by the wallet software and are used to recover access to the wallet in case the wallet is lost, stolen, or damaged. If scammers obtain a victim's 12-word phrase through a phishing attack, they can access the victim's cryptocurrency wallet.
With access to the wallet, scammers can transfer the victim's cryptocurrency funds to their own wallet, effectively stealing the victim's funds.
| Name | Suspicious Activities On Your Crypto Wallet Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Suspicious activities on the recipient's crypto wallet has been noticed |
| Disguise | Letter from a 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. |
Similar scam emails in general
Phishing emails are fraudulent emails that are designed to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information, such as login credentials, financial information, or personal data. These emails often appear to come from legitimate sources, such as banks, social media platforms, e-commerce websites, or government agencies.
Examples of phishing letters are "Webmail Account Maintenance Email Scam", "Quotation Of Goods Email Scam", and "Voice Message In Your Office365 Extension Email Scam". It is important to note that email can be used as a tool to deceive recipients into infecting their computers.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Cyber attackers seek to infect computers by deceiving recipients into downloading and activating malware via malicious email attachments or links. It's important to note that not every malicious file infects a computer immediately upon opening.
Malware is distributed by cybercriminals through a variety of file types, such as malicious MS Office or PDF documents, executables, JavaScript files, archives, and ISO files.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Refrain from opening email links or attachments from unrecognizable sources, especially if they appear irrelevant or unsolicited. Only obtain software and files from reliable sources, such as verified stores or official websites, and do not click on advertisements on questionable websites.
Keep your operating system and software up to date, and use dependable antivirus software while performing routine system scans. 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 "Suspicious Activities On Your Crypto Wallet" email letter:
Subject: Security Alert
Dear Customer,
We've noticed suspicious activities on your crypto wallet. Click the link below with your 12 phrase words to secure your wallet. If this was you, you don’t need to do anything. If not, we’ll help you secure your account.
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Quick menu:
- What is Suspicious Activities On Your Crypto 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?
Phishing emails are typically not personal, but rather they are sent to a large number of recipients.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
In case you have provided your account credentials, such as a 12-word phrase, it is important to change your password or seed phrase as soon as possible. If you cannot access your wallet, it is recommended to contact the wallet service provider for assistance.
I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
If the file was executable, then the probability of infection is high. However, if it was a document like .pdf, .doc, or the like, opening the document may not necessarily lead to malware infiltration. Sometimes, just opening the document is insufficient for malware to infect the system.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Merely opening an email is not harmful at all. However, clicking links in the email or accessing attached files can result in system infections.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Combo Cleaner has the capability to identify and remove nearly all known malware infections. However, it's important to note that advanced malware often conceals itself deep within the system. Therefore, performing a complete system scan is essential.
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