Mailbox deactivation imminent says phishing email
A phishing email is in circulation claiming that a user’s mailbox faces imminent deactivation unless the user adjusts their quota. Never fear though: you can adjust your quota by clicking on a link contained in the email. The email is supposedly from Google+. Irrespective, this email is bogus and can be deleted.
As per usual, we have reproduced a copy of one such email in Figure A. We have blacked out the three instances in which the email of the recipient has been used. It is a straightforward phishing email. The subject of the email is a threatening one: “Your Mailbox Will Be De-activated (Very Critical)”. That is probably guaranteed to catch people’s attention. The sender of the email is “WebMail Services” which is a somewhat amorphous title.
The email begins with the heading “Your mailbox is almost full”. There is a semi personalised salutation; the email address of the recipient is used. The reason for the email is of course to warn the recipient that their mailbox is almost full. To this end a sliding bar graphic is included in the email.
The user is presented with two options: remove email from their inbox or click on a link to add more space to their mailbox. There are three links in the email. They all lead to the same site. The bottom line seems to indicate that the email originates from Google+. The most interesting part of the email is this melodramatic sounding message:
“!!Do not respond to this message. Your reply will go nowhere. !!”
This is a bogus email. There is one big red flag, which are the links in the email. All the links lead back to the same phishing site. The phishing site is designed to steal the user’s Google+ credentials, with a view to breaking into the account and seeing what is of value.
Despite the dire warnings that your mailbox will be deactivated, shutdown and/or closed, it is all a big scam. Delete this email if you receive it.
Scott Reeves
MailShark
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