A – Attachment Scam
According to a published study, a gift-wrapped item influences the recipient to have a more favorable attitude towards opening the attachment.
When a recipient receives an email (from an unknown sender) that contains attachments such as PDF, Docs, etc, it can be an ill-intentioned email that baits the recipient to open it and download Malware without his or her awareness.
Here is an example of how the attachment scam will looks like.
Suggestions to stay save:
– Make sure you trust the origin of the attachment, give the sender a call if possible.
– Scan with your updated Antivirus program if you really wish to open the attachment.
B – Bitcoin Blackmail Scam
Bad guys or Scammers will use different type of stories and techniques to write to you. They could even mask their email address so that you cannot trace back to their email address. Most of their email content contains blackmail element where they hold your important information and will ask for a ransom in order for you to get back your information.
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency that does not record the sender and the receiver information, making the transaction completely anonymous. It is one of the reason scammers choose this as a medium for their ransom. As a summary, strangers threaten you in exchange for bitcoins using a template warning.
Suggestions to stay save:
– Always be alert when you see this kind of email and make sure do not fall for the trap
– Make sure you are browsing the internet in a safe network everytime
C – Checksum Scam
Scammers attempt to send you an email that requests your confirmation on certain registration, login verification or system false alert such as mailbox full. These type of email are getting smarter, they will craft their content to look like the real company that sends you the email. It baits victims to click on a link to download certain malware or key in their details, and plan for their second attack. We caught one scam email that was posing as cPanel membership verification back in December 2018. Here are another one of the example.
Suggestions to stay save:
– If you did not register from any of the said company, ignore it.
– Check with your email service provider or vendor on the false alert.
D – Domain Scam
When you register a new domain, your personal information is published to the WHOIS directory, which is available to anyone. Bag guy will collect these details and try to scam the domain owner with content such as domain expiry date or SEO submission that requires you to make additional payment. Check out the email example.
Suggestions to stay save:
– Get protected with Domain Privacy Protection
– Check with your domain registrar on the email truthfulness, never click on those links.
E – E-payment Scam
When your email account is compromised, scammers not only access your mailbox to read all your current emails, they will also create forwarder / filtering rules to monitor your email communication with your clients silently.
They wait patiently until the moment when you discuss payment details with your clients, and that’s the moment they jump into the email exchange (pretending they are you) and offer your client fraud bank account details. A fraud case takes place when the client deposits the payment to the scammer’s bank account. Due to your client do not know your real account, they might proceed the payment without any precaution. Here is one of the example of the situation,
Suggestions to stay save:
– Do not access your email account using unsecured network/devices
– Change your email login regularly with a strong password
– Access control panel and double check if there is any unknown forwarder/filtering rules
– Call your clients directly to clarify on the payment
Can you remember all of it? A, B, C, D, E. The above are just one type of phishing email examples, you can understand other types of phishing scam that is out there.
If you have any doubts on the suspicious email that were sent out by Exabytes, you are always welcome to clarify with our team. Email to [email protected] together with email full header. Here is how you can get your email full hearder. This header helps us to better understand of the email you received.
