Spam

The Hacker Who Has Access To Your Operating System email scam is a type of deceptive communication that can be classified as "sextortion". Cybercriminals send out a large volume of these emails, claiming that they have gained control over the recipient's computer and recorded a compromising video. However, it is crucial to recognize that this is nothing more than a scam, and these emails should be disregarded. In this email scam, the message alleges that the recipient's computer has been infected with a trojan while supposedly visiting an adult website. The criminals further claim that they have utilized the computer's webcam and microphone to record a video of the recipient engaged in explicit activities, as well as stolen their contact information. Following these assertions, the scammers issue a threat and demand a ransom. They threaten to send the recorded video, along with an alleged video that the recipient had watched, to all of their contacts unless a payment of $500 is made. The recipients are given a deadline of 50 hours to pay the ransom, and they are instructed to use Bitcoin cryptocurrency for the transaction.

An e-mail message that tries to convince recipients that they need to "Reconfirm Shipping Documents" is likely a phishing letter that should be avoided and not interacted with. Note that such spam campaigns can send phishing messages with varying content and deceiving techniques. However, the one that got under our examination showed "SWIFT PAYMENT" in the subject line and urged victims into opening two attached HTML files (PAYMENT SLIP.HTML and PAYMENT SLIP2.HTML). After opening, both attachments required users to enter their credentials (often e-mails & passwords) for alleged confirmation purposes. Please note that all the claimed information in this message is fake and the attachments are phishing. This means they are capable of recording the data upon its input without the consent of users. If entered credentials are correct, they can therefore be abused for accessing related accounts (such as in social media). As a result, cybercriminals can exploit the accessed accounts to scam other people or distribute malicious links/files. Apart from the "Reconfirm Shipping Documents" e-mail spam, a plethora of other spam campaigns exist on the web. While some of them are designed to steal personal information (e.g., credit card details, e-mails, passwords, etc.), others can spread malicious attachments that install a virus (like ransomware). Never trust suspiciously-looking messages, and do not download files from shady and unknown senders. If you become a victim of "Reconfirm Shipping Documents" e-mail spam, make sure to change your login credentials and scan your system with an anti-malware tool from our guide below. Read our guide below to learn how to keep your e-mail protected and spam-free.

If you are reading this page, then the "SharePoint" e-mail is likely a scam message, which should be ignored or even deleted. Initially, SharePoint is a legitimate Microsoft tool used by many companies worldwide, however, some scammers impersonate its name and templates for promoting malicious links/buttons leading to fishing websites. The "SharePoint" e-mail spam has been observed to mimic company names and make recipients read some important information inside a fake PDF attachment. This attachment was reported to contain a link leading to a fake Microsoft website. Keep in mind that such websites are designed to trick users into providing sensitive information and let threat actors abuse it for stealing access to Microsoft 365 (Office) or other accounts likely registered with the same login credentials. It is always highly advised against clicking on links or downloading attachments from messages that seem suspicious. Some cybercriminals may abuse PDF, Word, Excel, RAR, ZIP, and other genuine files for setting up executable scripts that will install malware. Thus, always be careful with what you click or download from e-mail messages. "SharePoint" e-mail spam is only one of the countless other scam e-mails that target users each day. Beware of them and read our guide to get protection against them in the future.

"Someone Matched With You On Tinder!" is likely a fake e-mail notification that is not related to Tinder. Although Tinder does send similar or even identical notifications to users, the one you received may be distributed by scammers. The purpose of this and other similar scam e-mail campaigns is to trick users into clicking on buttons or hyperlinks. One of the messages that got under the microscope of our team was encouraging users to click on the "FIND OUT WHO" button to see who is ostensibly a user's match. The website that this button led to asks users to pass a short questionnaire in order to reveal a list of neighboring women who "want to have sex" with the recipient.

Users may receive fake e-mail letters asking to verify their MetaMask wallet as part of completing the KYC verification process. MetaMask is one of the most popular digital wallets allowing people to store and transfer crypto assets, such as Ethereum. Such messages sent under the MetaMask name belong to phishing e-mail spam campaigns, which are designed to trick users into exposing their wallet credentials. Specifically, cybercriminals urge users to click on attached buttons or links leading to a phishing website. This website, therefore, asks users to provide their secret wallet keyword phrase to ostensibly pass the aforementioned verification. Unfortunately, doing so will simply enable cybercriminals to hack the wallet and steal money from it. Note that e-mail scam messages tend to use various psychological tricks to destabilize users' thinking and force them to make rushed decisions - for instance, the fake MetaMask letter stated the account will be restricted unless users complete verification within the specified date. While some details and even the appearance of e-mail scam messages may be sent by various threat actors and therefore vary from user to user, their purpose often remains the same - to scam naive users or download malware into the system. Thus, it is important to beware of such messages and not trust what they say. Always double-check the claimed information on the official website of the service involved, even if the message seems totally legitimate. In addition, we encourage you to read our guide and learn about other dangers of e-mail spam messages and aversion techniques against them.

"Summon To Court For Pedophilia" is one of the countless fake e-mail spam messages attempting to convince users they have been accused of doing some illegal activity. This specific spam campaign pretends to be a government entity that summons "offenders" to show up in court and participate in the judicial process related to pedophilia crimes. This fake e-mail has mainly been distributed in two versions - one in French and another in Lithuanian, English, and Dutch (note that other versions may be as well). The subject titles that these e-mails included were often "Fwd_ N°5326EU-FR2022 PROCÈS VOUS CONCERNANT..eml" and "šaukimas į teismą Nr. 9941/2022.". Cybercriminals behind such e-mails use a number of visual elements to convince the recipients, such as images and logos of official governmental bodies, highlighted text lines, deadlines, and so forth. They accuse recipients of being involved in pedophilia, sex trafficking, child pornography, and other crimes, which must be justified within 72 hours unless recipients want to bear severe consequences. Please note that the information stated in such e-mail is completely fake and propagated by threat actors themselves, not by governmental bodies or any other kinds of legitimate entities. The goal of cybercriminals who spread such e-mails is simply to trick users into contacting them. Afterwards, swindlers might ask to provide sensitive and private information, pay "fines", or perform other actions. Thus, it is important to ignore such e-mails and do not do what they say. In addition, you should never open links or attachments from such letters as they can be designed to distribute malware infections and other potentially dangerous content. Read our guide to learn other dangers of e-mail spam messages and aversion techniques against them.

"I have to share bad news with you" is one of the numerous e-mail spam campaigns that pursue to trick users into believing falsified information. This specific scam type claims the user's system has been infected with a Trojan program, which therefore allowed threat actors to record sensitive information and content using a microphone, webcam, keyboard, and other input/output devices of the infected computer. Various browser activities are also said to have been tracked by the malicious program. The message claims the trojan virus recorded footage of the recipient watching adult (pornography) websites, which "will be published" unless $950 dollars are paid to the attackers within 48 hours (deadlines and ransom amounts may vary). The reason "will be published" is written in quotes is simply because all the threats made in such e-mail spam messages are fake and have nothing to do with what they claim. This and hundreds of other e-mail scam campaigns are used to deceive inexperienced users into trusting forged information and facts, making transfers of money to scammers, opening malicious attachments or links, and providing sensitive information on fake log-in websites. Thus, never trust messages that look doubtful and suspicious, especially if they attempt to impose some ostensibly real threats or other kinds of tricks. Read our guide to learn the dangers of other e-mail scam types in more detail as well as explore aversion techniques of such messages in the future.

Qtumcoin.net is a fraudulent e-mail spam campaign targeting a large number of recipients worldwide. Its purpose is to trick inexperienced/unattentive users into opening a fake Qtum website and investing their money in it. The message's subject can display "Bitcoin Payment Successfull" (or a similar heading) and state an eye-catching text with information about a whopping amount of 85.7777 BTC that has been deposited to the user's Bitcoin wallet. To confirm the balance, threat actors say it is necessary to follow a link leading to the qtumcoin.net website. In fact, this webpage is fraudulent and should not be mistaken for the official Qtum cryptocurrency page - qtum.org. Scammers promoting this or similar fake pages use them to steal money from inexperienced users. E-mail is a very popular and cheap channel that gets constantly abused by cybercriminals to deliver countless fraudulent, unsolicited and even malicious letters. This is why it is important to be cautious when receiving e-mails from unknown and untrusted sources, especially if they contain requests for personal information or financial investments. Do not trust e-mail messages from unverified senders that contain flashy headlines and suspicious content offering to open or download something (be it attachments or links). Read our guide with useful tips on how to avoid such e-mail scam techniques and lower the chance of their delivery.