Offer Email Virus

What is Offer Email Virus?

Similar to Expired Invoices Email Virus, Xerox Printer Email Virus, and many others, "Offer Email Virus" a spam email campaign that distributes the LokiBot trojan.

As usual, cyber criminals send thousands of emails asking users to provide "best prices for spare parts". Users must then insert their offers into attached Microsoft Excel documents and send them back. This is a scam. The opened documents infect systems with the LokiBot trojan.

As mentioned, cyber criminals send deceptive messages encouraging users to open email attachments. Once opened, however, these attachments immediately infect the system. Note that cyber criminals attempt to give the impression of legitimacy by claiming to be from credible companies. This is very common.

They often claim to be employees of legitimate (typically worldwide) companies or governmental institutions. This helps them to trick users into opening attachments - users are much more likely to open files that are received from familiar names. Be aware that LokiBot targets Windows and Android operating systems. Therefore, its behavior slightly differs depending on the OS.

In both cases, however, Offer Email Virus continually records sensitive information (saved logins/passwords, keystrokes, web browsing activity, and so on). Furthermore, LokiBot is capable of simulating Android applications and locking screens to make ransom demands.

Therefore, the presence of this trojan might lead to serious privacy issues and significant financial loss. If you have recently opened "Offer Email Virus" campaign attachments, immediately scan the system with a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware program and eliminate all threats.

Threat Summary:

Name	Offer spam
Threat Type	Trojan, Password stealing virus, Banking malware, Spyware
Symptoms	Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate victim's computer and remain silent thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine.
Distribution methods	Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software cracks.
Damage	Stolen banking information, passwords, identity theft, victim's computer added to a botnet.
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.

LokiBot shares many similarities with dozens of other trojan-type viruses, such as TrickBot, Emotet, and Adwind. As with LokiBot, these viruses are also distributed using spam email campaigns. Most trojans also record information. In addition, some proliferate other malware.

In any case, these viruses pose a significant threat to your privacy and computer safety, and thus should be eliminated immediately.

How did Offer Email Virus infect my computer?

"Offer Email Virus" proliferates a malicious Microsoft Excel document. Immediately after opening it, victims are asked to enable macro commands, however, this inadvertently grants the attachment permission to execute commands that infiltrate LokiBot into the system. Note that, although this malware distribution method is simple and effective, it has a major flaw.

Malicious attachments are unable to infect the system if they are not opened using Microsoft Excel. If they are opened using any other software, the malware will not be downloaded. As mentioned, LokiBot targets only Microsoft Windows and Android operating systems and thus users of other platforms are safe.

How to avoid installation of malware?

To prevent this situation, be very cautious when browsing the Internet. Carefully analyze each email attachment received. Files that seem irrelevant or have been received from suspicious/unrecognizable email addresses should never be opened. Furthermore, have a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running.

More recent versions (2010 and above) of Microsoft Office open newly-downloaded documents in "Protected View" mode. This prevents malicious attachments from downloading and installing malware. Therefore, you are advised never to use older versions of this suite.

Lack of knowledge and careless behavior are the main reasons for computer infections and the key to safety is caution. If you have already opened an "Offer Email Virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Offer Email Virus" email message:

Dear Sir,
This is Engr. Asah from ORION MEACH. We need to provide us with your best price for the attached spare parts and equipment.
YOUR OFFRE SHOULD HAVE:
1. Best FOB price
2. Schedule Mode of payment
3. Manufactures certificate
Thanks.
ASAH OMAR
Sales
Executive
OPNION MECH Metals LTD
No. 6830 DENRIE STREET 570
NorthStar@AMK S(569880)
Tel: 64231030 Fax: 64231071

Malicious attachment distributed via "Offer Email Virus" spam campaign:

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 Offer spam?
• 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.

▼ Show Discussion