The email message below, which claims the recipients have exceeded their Yahoo account storage limit is a phishing scam. The phishing email message is being sent by cyber criminals to trick Yahoo users into clicking on the link in it, by falsely claiming that their email accounts will be deleted if they do not take action. But, the link in the email message goes to a fake Yahoo website that will ask visitors to sign-in. Once visitors attempt to sign into the fake website with their Yahoo usernames and passwords, their information will be sent to the cybercriminals behind the phishing scam.
The "Yahoo Account Deletion" Phishing Scam
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Email Administrator <khairun_artiste@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 3, 2017, 1:46:36 AM GMT+2
Subject: MESSAGE FROM YAHOO! (ACCOUNT DELETION)
Yahoo
Dear Valued User,
On Tue, Aug 1, 2017, we noticed that your Yahoo! Account has almost exceeded its quota limit.
1969MB 2016GB
What this means is your Yahoo! Account has used up 99.5% of its storage space and you may not be able to send or receive messages anymore.
Yahoo! recommends you Upgrade and Verify your account to prevent email deactivation and loss of emails within 24 hours.
Please click on the button below to re-validate and upgrade your email to an unlimited quota.
Re-validate Your Account Now!
NOTICE: Failure to upgrade your email WILL lead to closure, loss of sensitive data and possible deletion within 24 Hours.
Yahoo!
Once the cyber criminals have received the stolen Yahoo usernames and passwords, they will use it to hijack their potential victims’ accounts and use the accounts fraudulently. This is why Yahoo user should never click on links in email messages to sign into their accounts, they should instead, go directly to https://mail.yahoo.com and sign into their email accounts from there. If there is someone that needs to be done their accounts, they will be notified after signing in.
Yahoo users whose accounts have already been hijacked are asked to go to https://mail.yahoo.com and click the "Trouble signing in?" link for help regaining access to their accounts.