How to spot fake emails like "Blockchain.com - Your Account Is Locked"

What is "Blockchain.com - Your Account Is Locked"?

After analyzing this email, our team identified it as a crypto-related phishing attempt. The scammers masquerade as the blockchain[.]com team and aim to deceive recipients into divulging sensitive information on a phishing website. Recipients should remain cautious and avoid falling victim to such fraudulent schemes.

More about the "Blockchain.com - Your Account Is Locked" scam email

The email informs recipients that their accounts are locked due to a BTC transaction from their private wallets. The email instructs recipients to click (open) a link to recover their wallets to avoid future transaction suspensions. However, this email is a fraudulent attempt by scammers to trick unsuspecting recipients into providing sensitive information on a phishing website.

During our investigation, the phishing page linked in this email was inaccessible. Nonetheless, the scammers behind the email probably intend to illicitly obtain private keys, seed phrases, or passphrases used to access crypto wallets. Their ultimate objective is to gain control over crypto wallets and carry out unauthorized funds transfers to their own accounts.

Users should remain vigilant and refrain from providing sensitive information to such suspicious sources.

Threat Summary:

Name	Blockchain.com - Your Account Is Locked Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient's blockchain account is suspended
Disguise	Letter from blockchain[.]com team
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, such emails create a sense of urgency or alarm, using subject lines like "Account Suspended" or "Security Breach" to prompt quick action from the recipient. They impersonate well-known and trusted organizations or services, like crypto wallet providers, banks, or social media platforms, to gain the recipient's trust.

Usually these emails contain links to fake websites that mimic the legitimate ones or include malicious attachments that may infect the recipient's device. Examples of phishing emails are "HelpDesk Mail Delivery Failure Email Scam", "Inquiry List Email Scam", and "MailBox Warning Email Scam".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Users can infect computers via email through various methods. One common technique is the use of malicious email attachments, where cybercriminals send emails with infected files, such as .exe, .doc, .xls, .pdf, or .zip files. When the user opens the attachment (or its contents), the malware is executed, infecting the computer.

Another method is the use of phishing emails, which trick users into clicking on malicious links that lead to fake websites or download malware directly onto the system. These emails often employ Social engineering tactics to manipulate users into taking actions that compromise their security.

Moreover, some sophisticated attacks involve embedding malware in macros within documents, such as Word or Excel files. When the user enables macros, the malware is executed.

How to avoid installation of malware?

It is crucial to be cautious when handling email attachments and links, especially when they originate from unfamiliar sources. It is highly advisable to avoid opening suspicious attachments or clicking on links.

In order to ensure safe downloads, it is advisable to use official and trustworthy sources while avoiding unverified websites or third-party platforms that may distribute files infected with malware.

Additionally, remember to keep your operating system, software applications, and antivirus software up to date. Exercise caution when encountering advertisements on dubious websites, and carefully consider whether to grant notification permissions to such sites.

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 "Blockchain.com - Your Account Is Locked" email letter:

Subject: Blockchain Account Suspended

Blockchain.com Wallet
Your account is locked

You’ve sent BTC from your Private Key Wallet. Your future transactions will be suspended in 24 hours from the BTC network. You can also fix this by recovering your wallet using the link.
 
Recover Wallet

Best,

The Blockchain.com Team

Blockchain.com

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Quick menu:

• What is Blockchain.com - Your Account Is Locked 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?

Criminals send identical letters to numerous recipients, hoping to find someone who will fall for their scam. These spam emails lack personalization and are sent to a large number of individuals.

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

Immediately change the login credentials for your crypto wallet and any associated accounts. Enable 2FA if your wallet supports it. Contact your crypto wallet service provider if you cannot access your account.

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

If the file you received was executable, there is a high likelihood of infection. However, if it was a document file like .pdf or .doc, you might have avoided the infection, as some malware may require more than just opening the document to infiltrate the system.

I have sent cryptocurrency to the address presented in such email, can I get my money back?

These transactions are practically untraceable, making it impossible to recover the funds.

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

Simply opening an email by itself poses no harm. However, clicking on links within the email or opening attached files can lead to system infections.

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

Combo Cleaner is a powerful tool capable of detecting and removing nearly all known malware infections. Sophisticated malware may hide deeply within the system. Thus, conducting a full system scan is highly recommended.

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