How to avoid falling for scams like "Account(s) Lost IMAP/POP3 Coverage"

What is "Account(s) Lost IMAP/POP3 Coverage"?

Upon examining the email, we identified it as a phishing attempt designed to deceive recipients into divulging personal information. The email is camouflaged as a message from an email service provider, with scammers employing a fraudulent website to extract personal details.

More about the "Account(s) Lost IMAP/POP3 Coverage" scam email

The email claims that the recipient's email account has lost IMAP/POP3 coverage and requests immediate action. The email provides a "Re-validate" button for the recipient to click, warning that failure to do so may result in mail delivery problems or account termination. The message includes a timestamp suggesting that the notice was system-generated on specific time and date.

It concludes with a standard disclaimer, claiming to be from cPanel, L.L.C., and advises not to reply to the automated message. Overall, the email aims to create a sense of urgency and urgency, pushing the recipient to click the provided link.

Clicking on the link provided leads to a counterfeit website that mimics the design of the recipient's email service provider. For example, if the recipient uses Gmail, the site appears as a Gmail login page. The purpose of this phishing page is to extract email account login credentials.

Potential harm

When scammers successfully steal email account login credentials, they gain unauthorized access to the victim's email account. With this information, they can exploit various malicious activities, potentially causing significant harm.

Scammers often commit identity theft by mining the victim's emails for personal information. They extract sensitive details such as financial records, personal conversations, or login credentials for other online accounts. This stolen information can then be used for fraudulent transactions, phishing attempts, or even to compromise additional online accounts associated with the victim.

Moreover, scammers may misuse the compromised email account to launch phishing attacks on the victim's contacts. By sending deceptive emails or messages from the victim's trusted address, scammers can trick friends, family, or colleagues into revealing their personal information or clicking on malicious links, spreading the phishing campaign.

Also, scammers can try to access other accounts (e.g., social media accounts) using the stolen login credentials. This tactic is successful when victims use the same credentials for multiple accounts.

Threat Summary:

Name	Account(s) Lost IMAP/POP3 Coverage Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	the recipient's email account has lost IMAP/POP3 coverage
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

Phishing emails commonly share deceptive tactics, such as posing as trustworthy entities, using urgent language, creating a sense of fear or curiosity, and containing malicious links or attachments. Scammers aim to deceive recipients into divulging sensitive information, such as login credentials or financial details, through phishing emails.

Also, emails can be used to trick recipients into opening malicious pages or links designed to distribute malware (infect computers). More examples of phishing emails are "DPD Online Confirmation Must Be Made", "Yamaha Baby Grand Piano", and "Amazon - Your Account Has Been Locked".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Harmful emails contain a link or attachment that, when clicked, can introduce malicious software into computers. The range of potential malware comprises viruses, ransomware, spyware, Trojans, and other malware designed to steal information, encrypt files, deliver malicious payloads, or perform other malicious actions.

Different file formats are utilized to distribute malware through email attachments, including executable files (.exe), Microsoft Word documents (.doc, .docx), compressed files (.zip, .rar), Excel spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx), and JavaScript (.js) files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Be cautious when handling unsolicited emails, especially those from unfamiliar sources. Avoid clicking on links or opening attachments in such emails. Install trustworthy antivirus and anti-malware software, ensuring it is regularly updated to detect and remove potential threats.

Refrain from engaging with advertisements, pop-ups, buttons, or links on questionable websites. Only download files and applications from official websites or authorized app stores. Steer clear of using pirated software or cracking tools, and ensure that both the operating system and installed software are kept up to date.

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 "Account(s) Lost IMAP/POP3 Coverage" email letter:

Subject: Action Required: For email account ********

Dear ********,

The following account(s) lost IMAP/POP3 coverage:

********

Kindly use the "Re-validate" button below to fix.

Note: Failure to carry out the below exercise would lead to mail delivery problems or termination of account.

RE-VALIDATE

The system generated this notice on 01/31/2024 12:08:57 p.m. Do not reply to this automated message. Copyright © 2023 cPanel, L.L.C. All Rights Reserved.

Screenshot of the phishing page used in this campaign:

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 Account(s) Lost IMAP/POP3 Coverage 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?

Scammers send the same emails to many people, hoping that their scam will deceive at least one person. These spam emails are not personalized and are sent widely to find vulnerable targets.

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

If you have given out your account details, change all your passwords right away. For other personal information like credit card details or ID card information, reach out to the appropriate authorities as soon as you can.

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

The likelihood of a computer getting infected relies on the file type being opened. Executable files can cause an infection right away upon opening, while malicious document files typically need additional user actions, like enabling macros, for the infection to happen.

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

Simply opening an email is usually not a reason to be concerned. The risk occurs when individuals interact with the email by opening links or attached files.

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

Combo Cleaner is useful for finding and removing malware, but keep in mind that some advanced malware can hide deeply in your system. To ensure all hidden threats are removed, it is crucial to perform a thorough system scan.

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