Do not trust fake "American Express - Disputed Payment Received" emails

What kind of email is "American Express - Disputed Payment Received"?

After reviewing the "American Express - Disputed Payment Received" email, we determined that it is fake. This letter is disguised as a notification from American Express regarding a disputed payment.

It must be emphasized that this mail is fraudulent and not associated with the actual American Express Company. This email aims to redirect recipients to a phishing website that targets sensitive information.

"American Express - Disputed Payment Received" email scam overview

The spam email is presented as a message from American Express. It notifies the recipient that a $518.16 payment has been disputed. The letter instructs to check the secure attachment to view the dispute status.

As mentioned in the introduction, all the information provided by this email is false. Additionally, this mail is in no way associated with the real American Express Company.

The file attached to the letter ("Dispute-Payment_Account_Message.html") promoted a phishing website that was down at the time of research. Similar emails, which we have inspected previously, endorsed fake American Express sign-in websites. Keep in mind that potential future releases of this spam mail could promote an operational site.

Information entered into phishing webpages is recorded and sent to scammers. By stealing finance-related accounts (such as American Express), cyber criminals may be able to facilitate fraudulent transactions or online purchases.

In summary, by trusting an email like "American Express - Disputed Payment Received" – users can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

Threat Summary:

Name	"American Express - Disputed Payment Received" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	A $518.16 payment has been disputed.
Disguise	American Express
Attachment(s)	Dispute-Payment_Account_Message.html (filename may vary)
Symptoms	Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of the computer.
Distribution methods	Deceptive emails, rogue online pop-up ads, search engine poisoning techniques, misspelled domains.
Damage	Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Similar spam campaign examples

"American Express - Call to Reset Your Account", "American Express - Unusual Spending Activities Detected", "American Express Account Confirmation", and "American Express - Account Validation Required" are just some examples of fake America Express emails we have investigated recently.

Phishing letters primarily target the log-in credentials of various accounts (e.g., online banking, money transferring, e-commerce, digital wallets, emails, social media, messengers, etc.), personally identifiable information, and finance-related data (e.g., banking account details, credit card numbers, etc.).

Furthermore, spam mail promotes other types of scams and proliferates malware. These emails can be basic and full of errors or believably disguised as messages from genuine companies, organizations, institutions, service providers, authorities, and other entities.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam emails/messages can have infectious files attached to or linked inside them. These files can be documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, and so forth.

When a malicious file is opened – the infection chain is initiated. Some formats may need extra actions to jumpstart these processes. For example, Microsoft Office files require users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents need them to click on embedded files or links.

How to avoid installation of malware?

We highly recommend exercising caution with incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages. Attachments or links found in suspect mail must not be opened, as they can be virulent. It is important to use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010 since their "Protected View" mode prevents automatic macro command execution.

However, malware is not proliferated exclusively via spam mail. Therefore, we also advise being careful while browsing since fake and malicious online content usually appears legitimate and harmless.

Additionally, all downloads must be performed from official and trustworthy channels. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using genuine functions/tools, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updates may contain malware.

We must stress the importance of having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept updated. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove threats and issues. If you've already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "American Express - Disputed Payment Received" spam email letter:

AMERICAN EXPRESS
New Payment Received on Dec 16, 2020

ACCOUNT ENDING: -XXXXX

Dear Card Member,
A Disputed Payment Received

Disputed Payment Posted To Your Account

We have adjusted your payment options to reflect a disputed amount of $518.16. to your card account

For more information on the disputed payment received. Please download the secure attachment to view disput status.

Payment will be posted into your account within 24 hours after validation.

Thank you for your Card Membership,

American Express Customer Care

Appearance of the "American Express - Disputed Payment Received" spam email (GIF):

Instant automatic malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Quick menu:

• What is "American Express - Disputed Payment Received" phishing email?
• Types of malicious emails.
• How to spot a malicious email?
• What to do if you fell for an email scam?

Types of malicious emails:

Phishing Emails

Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.

Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.

After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.

Emails with Malicious Attachments

Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.

In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.

If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.

While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.

Sextortion Emails

This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.

To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.

How to spot a malicious email?

While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:

• Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
• Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
• Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
• Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.

To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows. 

Example of a spam email:

What to do if you fell for an email scam?

• If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
• If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
• If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
• If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
• Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did I receive this email?

Spam emails are not personal, regardless of any details relevant to the recipients that they might include. This mail is sent out in massive operations – hence, thousands of users receive identical messages.

I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?

If you have provided your log-in credentials – immediately change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support. However, if you've disclosed other private data (e.g., ID card details, passport scans/photos, credit card numbers, etc.) – contact the appropriate authorities without delay.

I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Merely opening/reading an email is harmless; systems are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.

I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?

If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes. However, you might have avoided a system infection if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .pdf, .one, etc.). These formats may require additional user interaction to begin downloading/installing malware (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded files/links, etc.).

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and eliminating practically all known malware infections. It must be mentioned that running a complete system scan is paramount since sophisticated malicious programs usually hide deep within systems.

▼ Show Discussion