Outline:
ALL CAPS email purporting to be from Yahoo claims that your email account will be closed if you do not confirm your account by replying with your login details.
Brief Analysis:
Of course, the email is not from Yahoo and Yahoo is not removing accounts due to congestion as claimed. In fact, the email is a laughably crude and amateurish phishing attempt designed to steal your Yahoo account login details.
Example:
From: “YAHOO!!”
Subject: ACCOUNT SECURITY
DEAR MEMBER,
DUE TO THE CONGESTION OF ALL USERS OF YAHOO MAIL, AND REMOVAL OF ALL UNUSED ACCOUNTS YAHOO BETA, YAHOO WOULD HAVE TO CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT, YOU HAVE TO CONFIRM YOUR E-MAIL BY FILLING OUT YOUR LOGIN INFORMATION BELOW IN CASE WHERE THE FORM IS NOT FULLY COMPLETED YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE SUSPENDED WITHIN 48 HOURS FOR SECURITY REASONS.
CONFIRMATION OF YOUR IDENTITY.
NAME: ……………………………………….
FIRST NAME: ………………………………….
YAHOO ADDRESS:………………………………..
PASSWORD: ……………………………………
PHONE:……………………………………….
PROFESSION:…………………………………..
COUNTRY:……………………………………..
YAHOO! CUSTOMER CARE
CASE NUMBER: 8941624
PROPERTY: ACCOUNT SECURITY
CONFIRM YOUR PASSWORD AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS BY SENDING US THE INFORMATION REQUESTED IN RESPONSE TO THIS MESSAGE WITHIN 48 HOURS. AFTER THIS TIME OF RECEIPT OF YOUR INFORMATION WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO ENSURE THE PRESERVATION OF YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, WHICH WILL RESULT IN THE PERMANENT CLOSURE OF YOUR MESSAGING
COPYRIGHT ©YAHOO
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TERMS OF USE PRIVACY POLICY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY REVIEW
Detailed Analysis:
Some scam attempts are so lame and amateurish that they can be rather entertaining in their own right. The scammer who came up with this little gem might be new to the job or perhaps just a little more dense than his fellow criminals. The message, which is rendered in ALL CAPS, apparently for added impact, claims that Yahoo ‘would have to close your account’ due to congestion. Supposedly, your Yahoo email account will be suspended within 48 hours if you do not supply your account login details.
Rather confusingly, having at first suggested that the account is set to be closed due to congestion on the network, the message then changes tack and claims that the impending suspension is necessary for ‘security reasons’. The confused and convoluted phrasing of the message, of course, suggests that English is our little scammer’s second language.
And, unlike many of his more canny criminal colleagues, this scammer has made no attempt to create a fake Yahoo look-a-like website on which to capture your login details. He hasn’t even made a simple HTML form to send as an attachment. Instead, he simply asks that you reply to the scam email itself with your email address, email password and other personal details.
For the record, no legitimate web service provider is ever likely to ask customers to send sensitive personal information such as passwords via an unsecure email. Nor would they ever SHOUT at their customers by sending administration emails in all capital letters.
Alas, all that being said, there are new users joining us online every day and, because of their inexperience, at least some of these users may not notice the red flags the rest of us see so clearly. If you have friends or family members who are new to the nefarious ways of the Internet, are perhaps a little gullible, or are potentially vulnerable for other reasons, please take the time to educate them about basic online safety and security issues. By doing so, you could thwart a scammer as well as help somebody avoid becoming yet another victim.
Last updated: March 20, 2016
First published: March 20, 2016
By Brett M. Christensen
About Hoax-Slayer
References
Yahoo Account Phishing Scam Email
Gmail Account Phishing Scam
Phishing Scams – Anti-Phishing Information
Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/another-lame-attempt-to-steal-your-email-account-password/