Do not trust fake "Someone Added You As Their Recovery" emails

What kind of email is "Someone Added You As Their Recovery"?

Our inspection of the "Someone Added You As Their Recovery" email revealed that it is spam. It is disguised as a notification concerning the recipient's email address being added as a recovery email for another account. The goal of this spam mail is to trick recipients into providing their email log-in credentials to a phishing website.

"Someone Added You As Their Recovery" email scam overview

This spam email informs the recipient that their email was added as a recovery option for another account. If the recipient does not recognize this activity, they can remove the unknown email address by following the link in this letter.

It must be emphasized that the claims made by this email are false, and it is not associated with any legitimate service providers or other entities.

At the time of research, the link led to a nonfunctional website. However, this could be fixed in potential future releases of this spam campaign (i.e., emails would lead to an operational site). This mail likely promoted a phishing site disguised as an email sign-in page. Information entered into such websites is recorded and sent to scammers.

Email accounts are of particular interest to cyber criminals, as they can contain incredibly sensitive information and serve as an avenue for hijacking linked content (i.e., accounts and platforms registered via compromised email).

To expand upon the potential misuse, scammers can steal the identities of account owners (e.g., emails, social media, social networking, messengers, etc.) and ask the contacts/friends/followers for loans or donations, promote scams, and spread malware by sharing malicious files or links.

Furthermore, stolen finance-related accounts (e.g., online banking, e-commerce, money transferring, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and online purchases.

To summarize, victims of scam mail like "Someone Added You As Their Recovery" can experience serious privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

If you have entered your log-in credentials into a phishing website – immediately change the passwords of all possibly exposed accounts and contact their official support.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Someone Added You As Their Recovery" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient's email address was added as the recovery option for another account.
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

"Webmail - Confirm Domain Ownership", "Bank Account Details", "e-Mail Support Center", and "Asia Pacific Lottery" are just a few of our latest articles on phishing campaigns.

Emails of this kind primarily seek log-in credentials, personally identifiable details, and finance-related data. However, spam is used to promote other scams and proliferate malware.

Due to how prevalent spam mail is and how well-crafted it can be – we strongly recommend treating incoming emails, DMs/PMs, SMSes, and other messages with caution.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns spread malware via malicious files, which can be attached to or linked inside the emails. These files can be archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

Once an infectious file is opened – the malware download/installation chain is triggered. Some formats need users to perform additional actions in order to jumpstart infection processes. For example, Microsoft Office files require users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents need them to click on embedded links or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

We advise vigilance with incoming emails and other messages. Attachments or links found in suspicious/irrelevant mail must not be opened, as they can be virulent.

It must be mentioned that malware is not distributed only through spam mail. Therefore, exercise caution while browsing since fake and malicious online content usually appears genuine and harmless.

Furthermore, download only from official and verified channels. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using legitimate functions/tools, as illegal activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updaters can contain malware.

We must emphasize the importance of having a dependable anti-virus installed and kept updated. 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 "Someone Added You As Their Recovery" spam email letter:

Subject: Someone added you as their recovery email

 

Someone added ******** as their recovery email

******** wants your email address to be their recovery email.

If you don’t recognise this account, it’s likely that your email address was added in error. You can remove your email address from that account. Disconnect email ********

You can also see security activity at
********

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▼ 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 "Someone Added You As Their Recovery" 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?

Spam emails are not personal, regardless of any relevant details that they may include. This mail is sent out in large-scale operations – therefore, thousands of users receive identical (or incredibly similar) emails.

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

If you have provided your account credentials – change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts and inform their official support. And if you've disclosed other private information (e.g., ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit card numbers, etc.) – contact the appropriate authorities without delay.

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

No, opening/reading an email is harmless. Devices are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.

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 this if it was a document (.xls, .doc, .pdf, .one, etc.). These formats may require extra interaction (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded files/links, etc.) to jumpstart infection chains.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and eliminating most of the known malware infections. It must be emphasized that performing a complete system scan is essential since high-end malicious programs usually hide deep within systems.

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