Avoid being scammed by LAB Bot Email
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is "LAB Bot Email"?
"LAB Bot" email is a scam message. Its misleading subject/title suggests that the email is from Amazon Delivery Support, however, it has nothing to do with this company. The message is not from Amazon or associates, and the content has no connection with them.
The body of the message claims to be from a group of "data storage hackers" (a cyber criminal group), which has supposedly hacked the recipient's cloud storage.
This scam is furthered by the use of scare tactics, in this case the model is used to trick people into paying to prevent the criminals from misusing their data. In fact, the user's device is not infected and data has not been compromised by these scammers.
The deceptive message alerts recipients not to ignore it, as it relates to their email account and cloud storage. It claims to be from a hacker group, which specializes in unauthorized access to this type of data storage. The email states that, as the users have received the message, they have already been hacked.
These scammers claim to be software developers who have created a data-stealing application. This malicious program is allegedly capable of exfiltrating files from cloud storage via affected email accounts.
The message then goes on to explain that there are various cloud storage services, which this fake malware can access, such as Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud and similar. Unless users pay for the data "gathered" by this software, it is either publicized on a darknet forum and/or shared with all of the recipient's email contacts.
The publication of this compromising material can supposedly be prevented by transferring 0.20753 in the Bitcoin cryptocurrency (approximately $1600 USD at the time of writing) to the criminals' Bitcoin wallet within five days. This scam proclaims that this is the only way to stop the process.
To obtain the cryptowallet address, users are instructed to scan the QR code presented in the message with their mobile device. Furthermore, recipients are informed that the five-day countdown begins from the moment the message is opened, which is monitored with the aid of email trackers.
Note that this scheme does not proliferate any malicious content, nor have users' devices been infiltrated by malicious programs. Do not meet the demands of these cyber criminals - regardless of the validity of their claims, there are no guarantees that their promises will be fulfilled following payment.
| Name | LAB Bot Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud. |
| Fake Claim | Scammers claims to have infected the user's device and exfiltrated data from cloud storage. |
| Ransom Amount | 0.20753 BTC |
| Disguise | The message is disguised as a Customer ID Authorization Form from Amazon Delivery Support |
| 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. |
"CVE-2018-10562", "On this day I hacked your OS", and "Hacker Who Has Access To Your Operating System" are examples of other scams similar to "LAB Bot" email.
Deceptive emails have various models, defined as social engineering and scare tactics. Their purpose is to trick people into making payments, revealing personal information (e.g. banking credentials), infecting recipients' devices with malware, and so on. The purpose of these schemes is to generate revenue for their designers.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Scam/Deceptive mail is sent during large scale spam campaigns. The emails are typically highlighted as "important", "official", "urgent" and similar. Infections are caused through dangerous files attached (or via links leading to them).
The file formats come in a wide variety including, for example, Microsoft Office and PDF documents, archive (ZIP, RAR) and executables (.exe, .run), JavaScript, etc. When these infectious files are executed, run or otherwise opened, it initiates the infection process. I.e., opening these files triggers them to begin downloading/installing malware (e.g. trojans, ransomware, etc).
System infections via malicious MS Office documents are started by enabling macro commands (i.e., enabling editing). In Microsoft Office versions released prior to 2010, however, infection is initiated the moment the document is opened.
How to avoid installation of malware
Do not open suspicious and/or irrelevant emails, especially those received from unknown senders (addresses). All attachments and links found in dubious mail must never be opened, due to the high risk of malware installation. If you use email services, run regular system scans to ensure that malicious content has not been installed onto devices through received messages.
You are advised to use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010. The newer versions have "Protected View" mode, which prevents malicious macros from infecting systems when dangerous documents are opened.
If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "LAB Bot" email message:
Subject: Re: [ Amazon Delivery Support ] [ Notification ] Authorization Form Customer ID
[ Support ] - 8764337 bil ling-prob lem@amazon.comPlease do not ignore this message, as it refers to your account **************** and cloud storage.
We are a group of data storage hackers.
If you receive this message, we've already hack you.
We are software developers (Login And Backup or often called LAB Bot).Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Q: What is the LAB Bot?
A: LAB is an automated application made by Bot using a special API request; the API can download all the data or files that are related to your cloud storage and send it to our server automatically via hacked email access.Q: Definitely, you'll think this is impossible!
A: Smartphones, Apple, Windows, etc. All have cloud storage data. Like Google with Gdrive, Microsoft with OneDrive, Apple with iCloud, and all cloud storage directly connected to an email account.Q: Why should you care about LAB Bot?
A: Lab Bot is automatically configured and has a five day grace period. On the fifth day, Lab Bot will accomplish its final task.
I.e., share backup data downloaded to the darknet forum publicly or to e-mail correspondence, contacts, social network, co-worker. (You certainly didn't want everyone to see or know your private files (documents, nude photos, hot videos, or others).Precisely what should you do?
To prevent all of this thing from happening, you need to send Bitcoin with the amount of 0.20753 Bitcoin - to my bitcoin wallet. (if you didn't know this, search 'how to buy bitcoin' on Google.)
BTC address:
Scan the QR code with your phone to get the address.So, to stop the LAB Bot process, it's only in one way; "make payments through Bitcoin in the amount of 0,20753 Bitcoin". You have five days to make a payment, and the time will start when this message opened; LAB Bot will know if you've already read the letter because it uses e-mail trackers.
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Quick menu:
- What is LAB Bot 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.
Outstanding!
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