How to recognize scams like "Space Of Your Office Account Is Almost Full"

What is "Space Of Your Office Account Is Almost Full"?

We have inspected this email and discovered that it is designed to trick recipients into believing they have received a notification from an email service provider regarding a "space for the office account". Scammers behind this scheme seek to extract personal information from unsuspecting recipients.

More about the "Space Of Your Office Account Is Almost Full" scam email

This scam email attempts to trick recipients by claiming their email account storage is nearly full and urging them to click a link to add 10GB of free space. It offers a solution to prevent mail errors. Clicking the provided link (labeled MAILQUOTA[.]COM) leads to a fake sign-in website designed to trick visitors into entering their email account login credentials.

This fake site is likely to imitate the design of the recipient's email service provider. For example, if the recipient uses Gmail, then the fraudulent page may appear as the Gmail login page.

With stolen email account login credentials, scammers can access sensitive personal information, including contact details, private conversations, and attachments. They may use the account to impersonate the victim and send deceptive emails to others, attempting to steal more credentials or money or deliver malware.

They may also gain access to other accounts linked to the email (or the ones using the same login information), such as banking or social media. Additionally, scammers can sell harvested personal data on the dark web.

Overall, stolen email login credentials can lead to identity theft, further phishing attacks, and unauthorized access to other accounts, putting both the victim and their contacts at risk. It is important to be careful with suspicious emails to avoid any of the potential consequences.

Threat Summary:

Name	Space Of Your Office Account Is Almost Full Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Mailbox is almost full
Disguise	Notification from an email service provider
Symptoms	Generic greeting, urgent language, suspicious links, grammatical errors.
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

These emails are fraudulent messages designed to trick recipients into revealing sensitive information, such as passwords, credit card details, ID card information, or other details. They often appear to come from trusted sources (e.g., companies or organizations).

Also, these emails tend to include urgent requests, fake links, or attachments. It is important to mention that files and links in such emails can be used to trick recipients into infecting computers. Examples of scam emails are "Password Credentials", "Zoho WorkDrive", and "Contract/Inheritance/Winning Payment".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Threat actors deliver malware through email by including malicious attachments or links. The probability of infection varies depending on the type of file. For instance, executable files can infect a device immediately when opened, while malicious Word documents require the user to enable macros before the malware can be executed.

Opening links in these fraudulent emails can direct users to harmful websites, where malware may be downloaded automatically, or the user may be tricked into downloading it manually. Ultimately, these attackers aim to trick recipients into taking actions that will infect their devices.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Use official pages or app stores to download files and software. Be careful with links or attachments in emails that seem suspicious (e.g., unexpected or irrelevant), especially from unknown addresses. Do not click on ads, pop-ups, or anything on untrustworthy websites.

Keep your software and operating system updated, and use reliable security tools. Avoid downloading from suspicious websites, P2P networks, or third-party downloaders, and never download pirated software (or associated tools). 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 "Space Of Your Office Account Is Almost Full" email letter:

Subject: THE SPACE OF YOUR OFFICE ACCOUNT IS ALMOST FULL!!

THE SPACE OF YOUR OFFICE ACCOUNT "  ********  " IS ALMOST FULL!

The space for your office account  ******** is almost full.

91% USED

To prevent your incoming/Outgoing mail from getting errors.

It is recommended that you click the button below to add aditional 10GB free pending when your are able to buy more space.

MAILQUOTA.COM

Email is generated by ******** Email server for ********

Screenshot of the phishing page used in this scam:

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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 Space Of Your Office Account Is Almost Full 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?

Fraudsters send the same email to many recipients, hoping to trick someone. These messages are generic and not tailored for specific individuals.

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

If you have accidentally shared your login credentials with scammers, change all compromised passwords immediately to secure your accounts. Also, enable two-factor authentication on all accounts that support it for added safety.

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

The risk varies based on the file type. Executable files are highly dangerous because they can instantly infect a device when opened. On the other hand, documents like .pdf or .doc files need extra steps, such as enabling macros, to deploy malware.

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

Simply opening a fraudulent email is safe, but clicking links or opening attachments can lead to system infections.

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

Combo Cleaner works well for detecting and removing most malware. To ensure even deeply hidden threats are cleared, it is important to run a complete system scan.

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