'Your Email Has Reached an Upgrade Stage' Scam
The 'Your Email Has Reached an Upgrade Stage' is a spam email campaign that operates as a phishing tactic. It attempts to deceive recipients into providing their email account log-in credentials by claiming that their accounts will be closed unless they upgrade them. The lure letters belonging to this campaign are designed to trick users into revealing sensitive information, such as usernames and passwords, under pretenses.
An Overview of the 'Your Email Has Reached an Upgrade Stage' Scam
The fake emails spread as part of this tactic are likely to have a subject line similar to 'You have (9) Pending Messages.' The communication is presented as a supposed notification coming from 'The security email team,' whatever that may mean. The message will try to convince recipients that their email accounts need to be updated or they will be closed for security reasons. However, clicking the provided 'Verify' button will redirect users to a dedicated phishing website. Phishing pages are designed to look like legitimate websites at first glance. Typ[icaslly, these pages are capable of collecting any information that users enter, including passwords, social accounts, finance-related accounts and more.
Cybercriminals can use the collected credentials to pose as the victims and ask their contacts for loans or donations, promote tactics or spread malware. They also can make unauthorized transactions and online purchases using collected finance-related accounts. It is important for users to remain vigilant when it comes to emails that appear suspicious or too good to be true, as they could lead to identity theft and financial loss.
Sings of Untrustworthy Phishing Emails
Cybercriminals often carry out phishing campaigns like the 'Your Email Has Reached an Upgrade Stage' scam. The consequences of falling for such schemes could be pretty serious, so users need to recognize when they are dealing with a luring message.
- Check the Email Address
Check who sent the email and see if it matches their domain name. Fraudulent operators often use email addresses that appear legitimate but might have a spelling error or add extra characters after the person's name to look genuine. If in doubt, contact them by phone instead.
- Review the Email for Grammar Mistakes
Authentic businesses typically proofread their emails for typos and other grammar mistakes before sending messages out to customers/clients. If an email looks as though it was written quickly, without much thought put in, then dismiss it – no legitimate business would do this when communicating with customers and potential leads.
- Analyze Any Links Sent in an Email
If you receive an email with clickable links within its content, hover over each link before clicking on them (but do not click). In addition, if the email asks you to download some attachment (often disguised .exe files) – DO NOT do this! Instead, contact whoever sent the message via phone and ask them to clarify what sort of file has been attached or use other methods to verify the integrity of the sender. More often than not, fraudulent messages prompt people into downloading malware, which could result in the loss of personal data and malware being installed onto computers/devices unknowingly.
