Chase Bank Important Account Documents Email Virus
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is Chase Bank Important Account Documents?
Similar to JPMorgan Chase Email Virus, "Chase Bank Important Account Documents" is a spam email campaign used to proliferate the TrickBot trojan-type virus.
As with many of these campaigns, criminals send thousands of deceptive email messages encouraging users to open attached Microsoft Office documents. This is a scam - the opened file infect systems with the TrickBot trojan.
"Chase Bank Important Account Documents" campaign emails are presented as official messages from JPMorgan Chase bank. The email comes with an attached document supposedly containing "account information". Users are encouraged to download and open the attachment, however, this results in infiltration of the TrickBot trojan.
Be aware that JPMorgan Chase is a legitimate company and has nothing to do with this fraud. Cyber criminals hide behind names of legitimate companies/governmental agencies (in this case, JPMorgan Chase bank) to give the impression of legitimacy.
This significantly increases the number of infections, since users are much more likely to open files that are received from familiar names. Be aware, however, that TrickBot is a very dangerous virus. It hijacks browsers and modify visited websites so that entered logins/passwords are saved on a remote server controlled by TrickBot's developers.
Furthermore, these people can gain access to victims' bank, social network, and other personal accounts. Cyber criminals aim to generate as much revenue as possible and will misuse hijacked accounts to achieve their goal.
The presence of a virus such as TrickBot can lead to significant financial loss and even identity theft. If you have recently opened "Chase Bank Important Account Documents" campaign attachments, there is a high probability that your computer is infected. Therefore, scan it with a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite and eliminate all threats.
Name | Chase Bank Important Account Documents 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. |
There are dozens of trojan-type viruses that are also distributed using spam email campaigns. For example, Pony, Adwind, FormBook, Emotet, and so on.
The behavior of these viruses may differ, however, most record sensitive information and proliferate other viruses. All trojans pose a significant threat to your privacy and computer safety and should be eliminated immediately.
How did Chase Bank Important Account Documents infect my computer?
As mentioned above, "Chase Bank Important Account Documents" proliferates a malicious MS Office document. After opening this file, users are encouraged to enable macro commands, otherwise the content will (supposedly) not be displayed properly. This allows malicious documents to download and install TrickBot into the system.
Although this malware distribution method is simple and effective, it has a major flaw. Research shows that the malicious file can only infect the system when it is opened using MS Office suite tools.
For example, if the .doc file is opened using an application other than MS Word, the malware will not be downloaded. In addition, TrickBot targets the Microsoft Windows Operating System only and users of other platforms are safe.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Have a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running, since these tools are very likely to detect and eliminate infectious files before they perform malicious actions. Furthermore, carefully analyze each email attachment received. Files that are received from suspicious/unrecognizable email addresses (and especially those that are irrelevant) should never be opened.
The main reasons for computer infections are poor knowledge and careless behavior. The key to safety is caution. If you have already opened the "Chase Bank Important Account Documents" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "Chase Bank Important Account Documents" email message:
Subject: Important account documents
Alert Important account documents
Read your secure documents by opening the attachment (20987419355.doc). You will be prompted to open ( view ) the file or save (download) it to your computer. For best results, save the file first, then open it with Microsoft Office. To ensure your documents are handled promptly, please review and sign your documents as soon as possible.
Please take one minute of your time to review and complete attached documents.
NOTICE:
This message may contain privileged or otherwise confidential information and is intended for the sole use of the intended recipient(s). Any unauthorised use, disclosure, distribution, or copying of this message, including any attachments, is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, please immediately contact the ALLYDealer Help Desk at 1-866-766-4622 and delete the message and any attachments without using, disclosing, distributing, or copying the contents.
Clients who do not use appropriate fraud-prevention tools increase their risk of losses and are liable for all losses incurred for payments originating using any authorised users’ security credentials or others who have designated transaction authority.
We appreciate your business. We trust that information that we share about cybersecurity and fraud scheme trends is valuable to you. Please call us if you wish to discuss our fraud prevention services and tools.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
J.P. Morgan and Chase are marketing names for certain businesses of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (“JPMC”) and its subsidiaries worldwide. Products and services may be provided by commercial bank affiliates, securities affiliates or other JPMC affiliates or entities.
©2018 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. Member FDIC
All services are subject to applicable laws and regulations and service terms.
This email was sent from an unmonitored mailbox. Please do not reply to this message; replies are unmonitored.
Chase Privacy Operations, Attention: Commercial Banking, PO Box 659752, San Antonio, Texas 78265-9752
Malicious attachment distributed via "Chase Bank Important Account Documents" 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 Chase Bank Important Account Documents 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