How to spot deceptive campaings like "Your Account Will Be Blocked"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What kind of scam is "Your Account Will Be Blocked"?
Upon examining this email, we have determined it to be a phishing attempt. The content of the email has been crafted by fraudsters who impersonate an email service provider to trick unsuspecting recipients into divulging personal information on a fraudulent website. It is highly recommended that recipients disregard and refrain from engaging with such emails.
More about the "Your Account Will Be Blocked" scam email
The email emphasizes the urgency by stating that the recipient's account will expire on July 10, 2023 (the date may vary). The email encourages the recipient to upgrade the account immediately to avoid losing the email address. It claims that the upgrade is free of charge and warns that failure to upgrade will result in the account being blocked.
Clicking the "UPGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT NOW" button redirects users to a phishing website disguised as a genuine login page. This deceptive webpage intends to deceive visitors into unwittingly disclosing their email account credentials. Visitors should exercise caution and avoid entering their personal information on such fraudulent websites.
Providing email account credentials on a deceptive page can result in significant harm. With access to an email account, cybercriminals can obtain sensitive information, contacts, and personal data, which can be used for financial fraud, identity theft, and other malicious purposes.
Also, armed with legitimate email credentials, attackers can launch targeted phishing campaigns, exploiting the compromised account to deceive and trick others into revealing their sensitive information or falling victim to scams.
If the compromised email account is linked to other services (e.g., social media or online banking), the attackers may gain unauthorized access to those accounts as well, potentially causing further data breaches and financial harm.
| Name | Your Account Will Be Blocked Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Recipient's email account will be 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. |
Similar scam emails in general
Phishing emails often impersonate trusted entities like banks, popular websites, or well-known companies. They often create a sense of urgency or alarm to prompt immediate action from the recipient. Also, they contain links or attachments that lead to malicious websites or malware.
Phishing emails typically request sensitive information, such as login credentials, credit card details, social security numbers, etc. They may employ various tactics, such as claiming account verification or warning of a security threat, to trick recipients into divulging their confidential data.
Examples of similar emails are "OneDrive Purchase Order Email Scam", "Quickbooks Payments Invoice Email Scam", and "Saved Passwords Were Found Online Email Scam".
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Cybercriminals often attach infected files to their emails, such as executable files (e.g., .exe), scripts (e.g., .js, .vbs), or document files (e.g., .doc, .xls). They rely on the recipient's curiosity or urgency to open these attachments, which then execute the embedded malware on the user's system.
Also, emails used to deliver malware can contain deceptive links that appear to be legitimate but lead to malicious pages. Users who click these links may unknowingly download malware onto their computers.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Exercise caution when opening email attachments or clicking links, especially from unknown or suspicious sources. Avoid downloading files or opening attachments unless you are confident in their legitimacy. Regularly update your operating system, software applications, and plugins to patch security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malware.
Only visit trusted websites and avoid clicking pop-up ads on dubious sites or downloading files from untrusted sources. Install reputable antivirus or anti-malware software and keep it up to date. Regularly scan your system for potential threats.
If you have 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 Blocked" email letter:
Subject: Your Email Account Will Be Blocked!
Your Account - Will Be Blocked!Your Account will EXPIRE, July 10/ 2023
If you would like to continue using your Email Address,
UPGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT NOWYOU WILL LOSE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU DO NOT UPGRADE YOUR ACCOUNT.
UPGRADE IS FREE OFF CHARGE
Screenshot of the promoted phishing website:
Another example of an email from "Your Account Will Be Blocked" spam campaign:
Text presented within:
Subject: Email Security upgrading process
Your Account Will Be Blocked!
Your Account will be blocked soon, do to our new security upgrading process for August 2024 update is a mandatory to all users,
If you would like to continue using your Email Address. ********
Click Here To Upgrade Your Email
OR YOU WILL LOSE YOUR EMAIL IF YOU DO NOT CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT.
UPGRADE IS FREE OFF CHARGE.
To upgrade your Email address for security alert it will help us serve you better to notify you once you need to upgrade your Email.
Thanks.
Admin! Inc 2024 A.
Another example of an email from "Your Account Will Be Blocked" spam campaign:
Text presented within:
Subject: Incoming mails has blocked!
Dear -,
Final Warning: Your account will be blocked if not updated immediately. Please take action as soon as possible.
Your email storage has reached the limit of 49.9 gigabytes as defined by your administrator. You will be unable to send or receive messages if it is not revalidated within 8 hours.
Please click on your email below to revalidate your email, and additional storage will be updated automatically."-
"Regards,
Email Support 2024
[Insert Email Address]"Ensure the placeholder is replaced with the actual email address.
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Quick menu:
- What is Your Account Will Be Blocked phishing campaign?
- 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?
Cybercriminals distribute identical letters to a large number of recipients with the hope that at least one individual will be deceived. These spam emails lack personalization and are sent en masse without targeting specific individuals.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
Immediately change the password for the affected account and ensure that the new password is strong and unique. If you have used the same credentials for other accounts, change those passwords as well to prevent further unauthorized access.
I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
If you have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, there is a possibility that your computer could be infected. However, the actual infection depends on the nature of the file and the security measures in place on your computer.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
No, it is safe to open emails. The real risk lies in clicking on links embedded within emails or opening attached files.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Combo Cleaner can identify and eliminate nearly all known malware infections. Highly advanced malware tends to hide deep within the system. Therefore, running a full system scan is required to detect and successfully remove such elusive malware.
Outstanding!
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