Avoid losing your account via fake "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" emails

What kind of email is "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure"?

Our inspection of the "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" email revealed that it is spam. The letter falsely claims that the recipient's messages failed delivery. The goal of this phishing mail is to lure recipients into disclosing their log-in credentials.

"HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" email scam overview

The spam email claims that due to a "failed DNS error relay issue", multiple messages failed delivery. The letter urges the recipient to address this and restore the mailbox.

It must be stressed that all the claims made by the "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" email are false, and this mail is in no way associated with any legitimate service providers.

After we pressed the "Review now" button, it resulted in a redirect to a phishing website. The site was disguised as an email account sign-in page. It stated that re-authentication is necessary to continue with the account repairs.

Phishing websites are designed to record entered information and send it to scammers. Victims of this letter risk more than just losing their email accounts, as the cyber criminals can also hijack the content registered through them.

To elaborate on the potential misuse, finance-related accounts (e.g., online banking, e-commerce, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and/or online purchases.

Scammers can also steal the identities of social account owners (e.g., emails, social networking, social media, messengers, etc.) and ask the contacts/friends/followers for loans or donations, promote scams, and proliferate malware by sharing malicious files/links.

Should any sensitive, confidential, or compromising content be found on file storage platforms – cyber criminals could use it for blackmail or other nefarious purposes.

To summarize, victims of emails like "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" may experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

If you have already provided your log-in credentials to a phishing website – immediately change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts and contact their official support.

Threat Summary:

Name	"HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Email delivery failed due to an error.
Related Domains	validetefix[.]com
Detection Names (validetefix[.]com)	Sophos (Spam), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Serving IP Address (validetefix[.]com)	172.67.179.60
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.

Phishing spam campaign examples

We have investigated thousands of spam emails; "Inquiry List", "MailBox Warning", and "Account Status At Risk" are merely a few examples of ones used for phishing.

Various scams are facilitated through spam mail, e.g., phishing, sextortion, callback, tech support, lottery, etc. Deceptive emails are also used to spread trojans, ransomware, cryptocurrency miners, and other malware.

Furthermore, these letters can be variously disguised, including as messages from legitimate companies, organizations, institutions, service providers, authorities, and other entities.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam emails can contain malicious files as attachments or download links. These files can be documents (e.g., Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, and so forth.

When a virulent file is executed, run, or otherwise opened – the infection chain is triggered. For example, Microsoft Office documents infect systems by executing malicious macro commands, while OneNote files need users to click on embedded files/links.

How to avoid installation of malware?

We strongly recommend treating incoming emails and messages with caution. The attachments or links found in suspect mail must not be opened, as they can be malicious and cause infections. It is important to use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010 since they have the "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic macro execution.

However, malware is not distributed exclusively via spam mail. Therefore, we also advise being vigilant while browsing since fake and dangerous online content usually appears legitimate and harmless.

Furthermore, all downloads must be performed from official and trustworthy channels. Another recommendation is to activate and update software by using genuine functions/tools, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updates may contain malware.

We must emphasize that having a dependable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date is essential to device/user safety. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove detected threats and issues. 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 "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" spam email letter:

Dear - ,

Helpdesk on - detected multiple mail delivery failure on -  mailbox.

Failure occured due to failed DNS error relay issue for mail delivery.

Review now

Note:  Kindly use the review tab above to fix issue and repair mailbox immediately.

Regards
Support Team

Screenshot of the phishing website promoted by the "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" spam campaign:

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Quick menu:

• What is "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure" 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?

Cyber criminals distribute spam mail by the thousand with the hopes that at least some recipients will fall for their scams.

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

If you have provided your log-in credentials – immediately change the passwords of potentially exposed accounts and inform their official support. And if you've disclosed other private data (e.g., ID card details, credit card numbers, etc.) – contact the corresponding authorities without delay.

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

No, merely opening an email will not initiate any system infection processes. Malware download/installation processes are jumpstarted when malicious attachments or links are opened.

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

If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes – your device was infected. However, you might have avoided triggering an infection if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may require additional user interaction (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded content, etc.) – to start downloading/installing malware.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and eliminating nearly all known malware infections. It must be stressed that since sophisticated malicious programs usually hide deep within systems – running a full system scan is paramount.

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