Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE Email Virus

What is Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE?

"Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE" is another spam email campaign used to distribute a high-risk trojan called TrickBot. It is very similar to "Payroll Timetable Email Virus", "Companies House Email Virus", and many others.

Cyber criminals often send thousands of deceptive emails encouraging users to open attached Microsoft Office documents, however, this results in infiltration of TrickBot.

This campaign's email messages claim that users have outstanding payments and encourages them to check attached "invoices" for detailed information. This is a scam. The opened attachment infiltrates TrickBot into the system. Note that the email may seem official.

It is very common for cyber criminals to claim to be employees of legitimate companies and governmental agencies. They do this to increase the number of infections. Users are much more likely to open files that are received from familiar names. TrickBot is a high-risk trojan designed to record account credentials.

It modifies visited websites so that all entered logins/passwords are saved to a remote server controlled by cyber criminals. These people aim to generate as much revenue as possible. Therefore, they are likely to misuse hijacked accounts for banks, social networks, etc.

The presence of TrickBot trojan can thus lead to serious privacy issues and significant financial loss. If you have already opened "Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE" campaign's attachments, there is a high probability that your computer is infected. Therefore, we strongly advise you to scan it with a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite and eliminate all threats.

Threat Summary:

Name	Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE 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.

TrickBot shares many similarities with dozens of other trojan-type viruses distributed using spam campaigns. The list of examples includes (but is not limited to) FormBook, Hancitor, Adwind, and Emotet.

Their behavior might be different (some cause chain infections, others record information, and so on), but all pose a direct threat to your privacy and computer safety. Eliminate them immediately.

How did Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE infect my computer?

The "Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE" campaign delivers a deceptive MS Office document, which once opened, asks victims to enable macro commands so that the content can be displayed properly. In doing so, users inadvertently grant attachments permission to execute commands that infiltrate TrickBot into the system.

This malware distribution method is simple and effective, but has a major flaw. Attachments are only able to download malware if the user opens them with programs from the Microsoft Office suite.

For example, if the .doc file is opened using any app other than Microsoft Word, the malware will not be downloaded. In addition, TrickBot works only on the Microsoft Windows Operating System. Users of other platforms are safe.

How to avoid installation of malware?

The main reasons for computer infections are poor knowledge and careless behavior. The key to safety is caution. Therefore, pay attention when browsing the Internet. Think twice before opening email attachments. If the file has been received from a dubious email address and is not relevant, do not open it. Have a legitimate anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running.

These tools can detect and eliminate infectious files before they do any damage. Note that 2010 and newer versions of MS Office open newly-downloaded documents in "Protected View" mode. This prevents malicious documents from infecting the system.

If you have already opened a "Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE" email message:

Subject: Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE

This is to inform you that there is still an outstanding payment of £203. We would appriciate it if this could be settled no later than the 30th.
I have attached the current invoice and the password for the document is: 1234
Thank you.
Shona Dyck

Registered in England & Wales.
Registered Office: The Apex 2 Sheriffs Orchard Coventry CV1 3PP.
Registered Company Number: 5104383.
VAT Number: 888 2461 77

Attachment: invoice.doc

Malicious attachment distributed via "Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE" spam campaign:

Text presented within this file:

CAN’T VEIW? MICROSOFT RECOMMENDS THE BELOW STEPS

1. Open the document in MS Office. Previewing online does not work for protected documents.
2. Use a PC/Desktop. Protected document doesn’t work on a mobile phone.
3. Since you have downloaded this document Online, you will need to click “Enable Editing” or “Enable Macro” and then click “Enable

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 Invoice Attached - FINAL NOTICE 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.

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