SysAdmin Hoax Goes International; Spanish Passwords Go Straight to Scammer Database

The SysAdmin scam that makes people believe they need to restore their account because of hacking attempts went international. The Spanish are now sending their passwords straight to the cyber-criminals’ database.

The e-mail targeting the Spanish in their language claims the user’s email account needs to be urgently restored.

“Several incorrect login attempts on your email account,” the phishing e-mail reads. “Open the attachment to the message and start the session of the details of your correct email account. NOTE: FAILURE CAN RESULT IN SUSPENSION of permanent account.”

The messages aren’t from any system administrator, of course. The e-mail is a phishing attempt designed to trick Spanish-speaking users into giving away their login details.

Similar “system administrators” used to send fake storage limit messages. In January, Bitdefender identified a localization of the full mailbox scam in countries such as Germany and Holland.

“Your mailbox has the storage limit, the 20GB as set by the administrator,” read the poorly crafted e-mail allegedly from the system administrator. When you will exceed 20.9GB, you won’t able to send or receive new mail until you re-validate your mailbox.”

Cyber-criminals regularly use such social engineering tactics to steal login information, so users should be careful about opening this type of message. They should also keep their antivirus solution updated to prevent spam and phishing attempts.

Bitdefender also warns Spanish users to stay away from dubious e-mails with attachments. Recent spam messages ask users to answer questions about the images allegedly attached. “Tell me what you think of this picture”, “Should I upload this picture on Facebook?” are just a few of the lines that draw people’s attention and lure them into starting a conversation with cyber-crooks.