Avoid losing your account via fake "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" emails

What kind of email is "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT"?

After inspecting the "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" email, we determined that it is spam. The message falsely claims that the recipient's email service has been temporarily restricted due to an error. This lure is used to deceive recipients into disclosing their email account log-in credentials to a phishing website.

"IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" email scam overview

This spam email informs of an authentication time-out error on the mail server. Hence, the recipient's email service has been temporarily restricted for security reasons. The scam letter instructs them to initiate an authentication process and review any withheld messages.

It must be stressed that the information in the email is false, and this mail is not associated with any legitimate service providers or other entities.

At the time of research, the website – opened by pressing the "Authenticate Now" button – was down. However, this issue could be addressed in potential future releases of this spam campaign (i.e., emails will redirect to operational webpages).

Typically, spam mail that uses lures of this kind promotes phishing websites targeting email account log-in credentials. These sites can appear incredibly convincing; some even mimic the design of the recipient's email sign-in pages. Information entered into phishing webpages is recorded and sent to scammers.

Hence, victims of spam mail like "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" can have their emails stolen. These accounts are of particular interest to cyber criminals since they tend to include incredibly sensitive information, which is especially true of work emails.

Additionally, by hijacking a work account – criminals might open an avenue for infecting the corporate network with malware (e.g., trojans, ransomware, etc.). Furthermore, scammers may gain access to the accounts/platforms/services registered through a compromised email.

To expand on how the unauthorized access might be abused, cyber criminals can steal account owners' identities (e.g., emails, social networking, chats, etc.) and ask for loans or donations from contacts/friends, promote scams, and spread malware by sharing malicious links or files.

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

To summarize, by trusting an email like "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" – users may experience system infections, serious privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have provided your log-in credentials to a phishing site/file – immediately change the passwords of all possibly exposed accounts and contact their official support without delay.

Threat Summary:

Name	"IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient's email needs to be authenticated to restore the mail service.
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

"Yahoo Canada Lottery", "Samsung Prize Money", "Nedbank email scam", and "Reserve Server" are merely a few of our latest articles on phishing emails. They primarily target log-in credentials, personally identifiable information, and finance-related data. Various scams are facilitated through spam mail, and it is used to proliferate malware.

While the widely held belief that spam emails are poorly written and rife with grammatical/spelling errors is not untrue, it is not always the case. These letters can be competently put together and even believably disguised as messages from legitimate entities (e.g., service providers, companies, institutions, authorities, etc.).

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns spread malware by distributing malicious files as attachments or download links. These files can be documents (PDF, Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, etc.), archives (RAR, ZIP, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

Malware download/installation is triggered once an infectious file is opened. However, some formats need extra interaction to initiate 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?

It is essential to approach incoming emails and other messages with caution. We advise against opening attachments or links present in suspicious mail, as they can be harmful or virulent.

However, malware is not proliferate exclusively through spam mail. Therefore, we recommend being careful while browsing since fraudulent and dangerous online content typically appears legitimate and innocuous.

Additionally, all downloads must be made from official and verified channels. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using functions/tools provided by legitimate developers, as illegal activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updaters may contain malware.

We must emphasize that having a dependable anti-virus installed and kept updated is crucial to device integrity and user safety. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove threats/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 "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" spam email letter:

Subject: ******** - Important Notice For ******** - Authentication time-out error.

******** MAIL SERVER CONFIGURATION IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT

Information directed to: ********
We regret to inform you that there was an authentication time-out error, leading to the failure to validate your IMAP/POP3 login credentials. As a precautionary measure, we have temporarily limited your incoming/outgoing mail capacity from 8/20/2024 1:25:40 p.m. until 48hrs.

To ensure that you do not miss any important emails, we kindly ask you to review any pending messages that have not been delivered to you. Please click on the link below to sign in and begin the authentication process.

Authenticate Now

 

Please take immediate action to ensure you do not miss any important emails from your account.

Email Service Provider
Domain Name: ********

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 "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT" 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 information that they may include. Data of this kind is typically acquired through publicly available sources or phishing scams. Cyber criminals distribute this 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 disclosed your account credentials – immediately change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts and inform their official support. And if you've provided other private information (e.g., ID card details, credit/debit 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?

Merely reading an email will not initiate malware download/installation processes. 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?

Whether the system was compromised might depend on the format of the opened file. Executables (.exe, .run, etc.) cause infections almost without fail (once opened). However, some formats – like documents (.doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.) – need additional actions. Hence, the infection chain may be jumpstarted after macro commands are enabled, embedded content is clicked, or other actions are performed.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is designed to detect and eliminate all kinds of threats. It is capable of removing almost all known malware infections. Note that performing a complete system scan is key since sophisticated malicious programs tend to hide deep within systems.

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