Watch out for proton phishing emails
from dan00@lemm.ee to privacy@lemmy.ml on 17 Feb 09:09
https://lemm.ee/post/55803824

Hi yall, I have been receiving these email for a while now. The email address is no-reply@notify.proton.me but I’m pretty sure this is a phishing attack because not the first email (the one in blue) or the second account name (the one in red) are my proton account.

Someone knows these 2 gmail accounts and knows I have a proton one but doesn’t know the correct proton account name. Ofc my proton account is not linked these emails, not even for recovery situations.

Just heads up, this was not easy to spot.

Screenshot of scammy Proton email received

#privacy

threaded - newest

retiolus@lemmy.cat on 17 Feb 09:13 next collapse

What is the real url?

dan00@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 09:27 collapse

All the urls seems going to proton.me… thats why I’m confused. Should i check something specific?

potentiallynotfelix@lemmy.fish on 17 Feb 09:33 next collapse

if it’s actually proton.me that’s an official url.

kungen@feddit.nu on 17 Feb 13:50 collapse

It could also be some IDN tricks. Most browsers translate mixed scripts into punycode nowadays, but it can be easy to get tricked. Just go to their official site if you’re unsure.

For example: https://xn–prtn-1ndb.me/ looks like a normal link… but the O’s have been replaced with the Greek letter omicron.

shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip on 17 Feb 14:21 next collapse

Interesting. I am blind and therefore use the TalkBack screen reader and it does not say the O’s because they are not in English. It reads that as PRTN.

mstrk@lemmy.world on 17 Feb 16:32 collapse

this is really insightful, thanks!

WreckingBANG@lemmy.ml on 17 Feb 09:17 next collapse

Isnt proton.me their real url, or does it lead you somewhere else when you click it?

AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@sh.itjust.works on 17 Feb 09:22 next collapse

Proton.me is their real url, but is that link taking you to proton.me?

dan00@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 09:28 next collapse

It seems to lead to proton.me but maybe I’m not expert enough.

EtherWhack@lemmy.world on 17 Feb 12:05 collapse

They may have the ‘official’ url in the link, but there’s a good chance they might be piped/redirected through a malicious server under the spammer’s control to log your keystrokes.

x00z@lemmy.world on 17 Feb 19:20 collapse

https://proton.me

Far@lemmy.ml on 18 Feb 11:19 collapse

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/4debe914-13c2-472b-a0fc-943e6c73206b.png">

You sneaky boi

TheHobbyist@lemmy.zip on 17 Feb 09:34 next collapse

In this case, without clicking any links in the email, why don’t you just simply go to the proton website manually and log in for good measure?

dan00@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 11:05 collapse

I did, I have the app on the phone and the account is fine, no notifications or emails. Nothing… it happened already some weeks ago and i ignored it.

lemmyknow@lemmy.today on 17 Feb 09:51 next collapse

Don’t Proton emails come starred or marked as oficial? At least on the Android app, for me, it shows ‘Oficial’

Lemjukes@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 13:27 collapse

Can confirm in the iOS app that messages from proton official have a special badge

dan00@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 20:25 collapse

Oh, really? This one didn’t have any badge at all. I’m confused.

Lemjukes@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 20:33 collapse

To clarify, they have a badge in the proton client you’re in the ios mail app. Everything I can tell from this email makes it seem legit, this may be a false positive on you’re end ‘mfraid.

dan00@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 20:51 collapse

Ah okay, yes the official one does. Yes, I think its a false positive… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

xxd@discuss.tchncs.de on 17 Feb 09:52 next collapse

I’m not sure if this is how proton notifies you, but it could also be that someone else (the other address you’re seeing) put you in as their recovery mail. they haven’t logged in in a while, and now get notified that their account might get deleted due to lack of activity. They might have just mistyped the intended recovery email or randomly put in yours. Either way, nothing you need to do.

shifty@leminal.space on 17 Feb 09:50 next collapse

That is their official email address. Did you make an Alias or something and you forgot?

dan00@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 11:12 collapse

I’m starting to think I’m wrong somehow… Maybe i made an account long ago and forgot? I really don’t think so tho.

shifty@leminal.space on 17 Feb 13:28 next collapse

Its possible some wires got crossed behind scenes, some database/software mixup.

Maybe email proton support if you’re concerned? I’ve had some similar mixup happen with banking and they got it all sorted after I complained (I was getting emails intended for someone else).

Edit: either way, I think you should let them know in case its phishing or something broken on their end.

ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org on 17 Feb 14:58 collapse

the address there can be faked, maybe your email client did not warn about it. if you can check the mail’s headers (maybe easier on desktop), look at all the addtesses you see in there and if thry seem suspicious.

also check the link they sent. Don’t open it, but copy it only.

SaltyIceteaMaker@lemmy.ml on 17 Feb 11:46 next collapse

does it have the “official” tag? it should look like this:

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/d90e048e-5ebd-4305-ad1a-de8626ade97f.jpeg">

Lemjukes@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 13:28 next collapse

This looks like they’re using the iOS mail client

dan00@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 20:01 collapse

Yes this is the mail app in ios

GroundedGator@lemmy.world on 17 Feb 19:09 collapse

OP stated this was sent to their Gmail, so wouldn’t have the tag.

SaltyIceteaMaker@lemmy.ml on 18 Feb 03:32 collapse

i linked up my Gmail anf proton. so my gmail stuff gets forwarded to proton with a specific tag

EtherWhack@lemmy.world on 17 Feb 12:22 next collapse

I’ve seen at least a couple times a similar trick but with payment req websites like cash app or venmo. Everything looks legit, but if you were to look closely at the url they want you to click, it is almost always routed through a server under the phisher’s control.

Lemjukes@lemm.ee on 17 Feb 13:29 next collapse

Are you using the iOS mail client with a proton email account?

GroundedGator@lemmy.world on 17 Feb 19:17 next collapse

Wondering if someone somehow linked your Gmail (email you received this on) to their proton account. I was looking for an email you could forward this to to report it to proton but could not find one.

As always, if an email looks suspect, don’t click anything. Just wish there was a way to report it.

tired_n_bored@lemmy.world on 18 Feb 09:54 next collapse

Probably the account.proton.me link is just plain text pointing to something else like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ&t=1

This should be forbidden somehow tho

kekmacska@lemmy.zip on 18 Feb 13:47 next collapse

is no-reply@news.proton.me legit? i got an email like that

fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com on 19 Feb 13:37 collapse

proton.me/support/inactive-accounts

If you have been inactive on all Proton services for one year, we will give you advance notice 30 days, 15 days, and 7 days before your account is deleted.