How to identify fake emails like "Revalidate Email Or Lose Account"

What kind of scam is "Revalidate Email Or Lose Account"?

We have reviewed this email and found that it is a fraudulent notification claiming to be from Microsoft. It is designed to trick recipients into believing they must "re-validate" their accounts and disclosing personal information on a fake site. Such emails are classified as phishing emails.

More about the "Revalidate Email Or Lose Account" scam email

The phishing email claims to be from Microsoft and urges the recipient to validate their email account usage to avoid having the account suspended. It warns that failure to validate the email activity will result in the loss of their Microsoft account. The email includes a link to "Validate Email Here" and emphasizes that the recipient cannot ignore this mandatory notice.

During our inspection, the website provided in this email was down. However, it is clear that it is a phishing site, likely designed to steal email account login credentials. If scammers obtain email credentials, they can use them to access email accounts and sensitive personal information (e.g., private conversations, financial details, and important attachments) within them.

They may also exploit the account to reset passwords for other services, potentially taking control of social media, banking, or online shopping accounts. In addition, scammers could use the compromised email to send phishing emails or messages containing malicious links or attachments to the victim's contacts.

The stolen data might also be sold on the dark web to other cybercriminals. Recognizing scam emails is required to avoid financial loss, identity theft, and other serious consequences.

Threat Summary:

Name	Revalidate Email Or Lose Account Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	The account will be suspended if not reactivated
Related Domain	clnwlls[.]net
Detection Names	alphaMountain.ai (Phishing), Combo Cleaner (Malware), ESET (Phishing), Kaspersky (Phishing), Sophos (Malware), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Disguise	Letter from Microsoft
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

Emails of this kind often appear urgent and pressure the recipient to take immediate action. They usually contain suspicious links or attachments that could lead to malicious sites or downloads. Also, these emails often impersonate reputable organizations to trick victims into revealing personal information or taking other actions.

Some examples of similar emails are "Spotify Subscription Update", "Your System Was Breached By Remote Desktop Protocol", and "Capital One - Email Address Change".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malware can enter systems via emails when users click harmful links or open malicious attachments. These attachments, which can be PDFs, Office documents, script files, archives, ISO files, executables, etc., can deploy malware once opened or additional steps (e.g., enabling macro commands) are taken.

Following links in these emails can lead to malicious websites, triggering automatic malware downloads or encouraging users to manually (and unknowingly) install harmful software or download and open malicious files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

If you receive emails from unknown senders that seem unusual or irrelevant, do not click on any links or open any attachments. Protect your system by using reputable antivirus or anti-malware software. Always download files and applications from trusted sources, such as official websites or app stores.

Avoid interacting with pop-ups or ads when browsing unfamiliar websites, and never allow untrusted sites to send notifications. Keep your system and applications updated regularly to defend against potential security risks. 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 "Revalidate Email Or Lose Account" email letter:

Subject: Important information regarding your account

Microsoft
Revalidate email or lose account
Kindly validate email account usage to avoid service suspension for ********.
If you don't validate email activity, you will lose your Microsoft account.
Validate Email Here
You can not ignore this mandatory notice.

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 Revalidate Email Or Lose Account 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?

Usually, scammers send the same email to numerous recipients at once. These messages are typically generic and lack personalization, designed to trick as many people as possible.

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

If your login credentials have been exposed, update your passwords promptly to secure your accounts. In other cases (if scammers have stolen your credit card details or ID card information), reach out to your bank or the appropriate authorities.

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

The risk of malware infection from an email attachment varies based on the file type and user behavior. For example, opening a malicious .exe file can lead to instant infection, whereas MS Office documents pose a threat only if the user enables macros.

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

Reading an email is generally safe, but clicking on malicious links or opening infected attachments can lead to a computer infection.

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

Combo Cleaner can identify and remove most known malware, but conducting a full system scan is essential to completely eradicate advanced threats that may be deeply embedded in the system.

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