I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account Email Virus

What is "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account"?

"I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account" is a spam email campaign used to distribute GandCrab 5.1 ransomware. The virus is distributed using a malicious attachment. Cyber criminals send thousands of deceptive emails encouraging users to open a link that leads to an invoice. Opening the attachment leads to infiltration of GandCrab 5.1 ransomware.

"I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account" campaign emails state that the sender has transferred money to the recipient's account and encourages the recipient to check the attached invoice. The attachment is a link that leads to download of a password-protected archive containing a malicious JavaScript file. The archive's password is given in the email.

Once opened, the JavaScript downloads and executes GandCrab 5.1's binary file. Following infiltration, GandCrab 5.1 encrypts most stored files and makes ransom demands. During encryption, GandCrab 5.1 generates a unique decryption key for each victim. Cyber criminals store all keys on a remote server.

Since decryption without these keys is impossible, victims are offered purchase of their keys (this is effectively blackmail by cyber criminals). All payment details are provided via email. Therefore, the cost is currently unknown. No matter what the cost, never agree to pay. Research shows that ransomware developers often ignore victims, once payments are submitted.

Therefore, victims pay ransoms and receive nothing in return - they simply support cyber criminals' malicious businesses. Unfortunately, there are no tools capable of decrypting data compromised by GandCrab 5.1 free of charge - the only solution is to restore everything from a backup.

Bear in mind that removing malware will not restore your data, however, it will prevent further encryptions. Therefore, if your data is encrypted, you should immediately scan the system with a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite and eliminate all detected threats.

Threat Summary:

Name	I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account spam
Threat Type	Ransomware, Crypto Virus, Files locker
Symptoms	Can't open files stored on your computer, previously functional files now have a different extension, for example my.docx.locked. A ransom demanding message is displayed on your desktop. Cyber criminals are asking to pay a ransom (usually in bitcoins) to unlock your files.
Distribution methods	Infected email attachments (macros), torrent websites, malicious ads.
Damage	All files are encrypted and cannot be opened without paying a ransom. Additional password stealing trojans and malware infections can be installed together with a ransomware infection.
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.

There are many spam email campaigns such as "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account". The list of examples includes (but is not limited to) "Scotiabank Email Virus", "Verizon Email Virus", "Unicredit Bank Email Virus", "Love Letter Email Virus", and "A2 Trading Corp Email Virus". 

As with "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account", these campaigns also distribute malicious applications using infectious attachments. In most cases, they proliferate trojan-type viruses such as FormBook, TrickBot, Adwind, Emotet, AZORult, and similar.

Although these viruses have different behavior (some record information, others cause chain infections, encrypt data, and so on), all pose a direct threat to your privacy and browsing safety. Therefore, you should eliminate these threats immediately.

How did "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account" infect my computer?

As mentioned above, the "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account" spam campaign delivers a malicious attachment - a link that leads to download of an archive presented as an invoice. The archive is password-protected, however, email text provides the password, which at time of research was "invoice123".

The archive contains a JavaScript file that connects to a server to download and run GandCrab 5.1 ransomware. Note that "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account" is not the first spam campaign used to proliferate GandCrab 5.1. In the past, however, the malicious attachments were Microsoft Office documents that used macro commands to infect the system.

Using compressed JavaScript files is rather unusual for the distributors of this malware. In any case, the infection cannot occur without users' involvement - they must trigger it manually by opening the malicious attachment.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Lack of knowledge and careless behavior are the main reasons for computer infections. Caution is the key to computer safety. Therefore, pay close attention when browsing the internet. Never open any malicious attachment before making sure that it is safe to do so. If the file is irrelevant or the sender seems suspicious, do not open anything.

Furthermore, bear in mind that cyber criminals often try to abuse users' curiosity by sending messages such as "you have won a lottery", "you have received a package", or free offers. These are merely scams. Have a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running at all times.

These tools can detect and eliminate malware before any damage is done. If you have already opened the "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account" email message:

Subject: I made transfer
Hello, I made transfer into your bank account
I'll attach invoice on WeTransfer with password, I don't think you can extract them from mobile, please extract from Desktop
hxxp://104.248.163.221/invioce.php
Password for rar: invoice123
Please let me know
Regards,
Mark

Screenshot of GandCrab 5.1 encrypting the victim's files:

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 I Made Transfer Into Your Bank Account 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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