Bogus “Account limit exceeded” emails targeting Yahoo users

Fake Yahoo email notifications are hitting inboxes and urging users to verify their account because it has “exceeded its limit”, Hoax-Slayer warns.

The message is accompanied by a veiled threat of account suspension within 24 hours aimed at making users panic and raise the likelihood of them following the offered link.

Unfortunately for those who did, the link leads to a fake Yahoo login page, and all login credentials inputed and submitted in it are now in the hands of the phishers who created the page, ready to be used to hijack the users’ accounts.

These accounts can be used for a variety of malicious schemes, the most benign of which is the sending of spam. Other options are to bombard the users’ contacts with links leading to malware or with fake pleas for money due to an unforeseen and difficult situation.