There are number of ways scammers use to target personal information and, currently, one example is, they are taking advantage of the fear around the virus pandemic, sending phishing and scam emails to Microsoft OneDrive users, trying to profit from Coronavirus/COVID-19. They will pretend to be emailing from government, consulting, or charitable organizations to steal victim’s OneDrive details. OneDrive scammers will steal sensitive account information like usernames and passwords. We would like to educate McAfee users and the public about the potential risks with these scams.
Nefarious Groups Attempt to Harvest Users’ Credentials
Below we will take you through three examples of this kind of attack, coming from a government organization, consulting firm and a charitable organization hosted in OneDrive to make them appear more genuine to users. As the screenshot below illustrates, the goal is to steal the user’s OneDrive credentials.
Fake Government Email Baits Victims
Scammers pretend to be from government offices and deliver documents that contain the latest live questionnaire regarding COVID-19. Remember: governments do not generally email the masses, sending unrequested documents, so a user could verify by examining the sender email address and location in the email headers and could visit the legitimate government site to see if there is COVID-19 information there instead.
When the folder in the above image is clicked on, it redirects to the screenshot shown below.
A warning saying “Hmm… looks like this file doesn’t have a preview we can show you” baits the visitor into clicking on the Open button. When clicked, it takes them to the below OneDrive screenshot prompting them to enter their personal information.
Notice that the link points users to a vulnerable WordPress site that contains a credential phishing landing page. A user should be aware that a legitimate OneDrive login page will never be hosted on a non-Microsoft domain. This should be a red flag to the user that this may be a scam or phishing attack.
As intended by the scammers, the user cannot access the OneDrive document to view the updated government questionnaire and, instead, will receive an error message to try again later.
By this stage, the scammers would have already stolen the user’s OneDrive personal information.
Fake Consulting Firm Attempts to Trick Users with Secured Document
Scammers pretend to be a consulting firm to share a secured document with the customer regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. Accepting an email document from a random and unsolicited consulting firm should be regarded as suspicious.
If a recipient clicks on the Download PDF link, it will take them to the page shown above where they are prompted to login. If they do so, it brings them to the below Microsoft login page where they enter their email address and password.
After attempting to sign in, the victim will be presented with an error message, as seen in the below screenshot.
When they enter their OneDrive information they will receive an error message saying, “Sorry, but we’re having trouble signing you in”. However, by this point, the scammers have already stolen the user’s OneDrive information.
Fake Charitable Organization Tries to Trick Volunteers
Some emails appear like charitable organizations looking for volunteers to help the community.
If someone clicks on the open PDF link, it will take them to the below OneDrive login page.
Scammers are trying to harvest company and individual OneDrive credentials by pretending to appear as a non-profit organization looking for volunteers.
The user is then presented with a login screen requesting their credentials.
However, they should notice the URL hosting the OneDrive login page is not from a Microsoft domain and should be regarded as suspicious.
Advice to Consumers
Consumers should be aware of scammers trying to harvest OneDrive details and should follow these best practices: –
- Be careful of any charity or businesses requesting their OneDrive user information. Stick with organizations known to be reputable.
- Never share financial or personal information over the phone, via email or with untrusted sites.
- Remember that legitimate organizations will almost never send an email asking for personal information.
- Never click on suspicious links or download attachments from unknown sources.
- Never log in to a web page reached through a link from an email.
- Remember email addresses can be spoofed so if a message looks suspicious, contact the sender via a known telephone number taken from their official website.
Advice to Organizations
- Organizations should activate multi-factor authentication to prevent stolen credentials from been used to access OneDrive or Office 365 accounts.
- Ensure all employees are aware of the threat posed by OneDrive and Office 365 phishing scams and consider security awareness training where appropriate.
If you find suspected scam sites, please submit them to McAfee for review at https://trustedsource.org as well as reporting them to your local law enforcement.
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