How to avoid installation of Gozi via the "Payments Due" malspam campaign

What is "Payments Due email virus"?

Typically, malspam campaigns are disguised as legitimate and official in attempts to make them seem less suspicious.

Cyber criminals send bogus emails to trick recipients into clicking the included link (thereby downloading and opening a malicious file) or simply opening/executing the attached file. In any case, when the malicious file is executed, it installs malware onto the recipient's computer. This particular malspam campaign is used to distribute a Trojan named Gozi.

Cyber criminals behind this malspam campaign attempt to trick recipients into believing that a received email relates to a payment, and then urging them to open the attached malicious Microsoft Excel document. When opened, the document asks to enable editing and content - this is so that it can run macro commands designed to install Gozi.

This malware can log keystrokes, gather login credentials, browsing data, system information and other sensitive data. The information could be misused by cyber criminals to steal identities, make fraudulent purchases and transactions, steal accounts or for other malicious purposes.

Therefore, users who allow the attached malicious Excel document to enable editing and content might become victims of identity theft, lose access to personal accounts, suffer monetary loss, experience problems relating to online privacy, browsing safety, and other serious issues.

Therefore, the Excel document (in this case, "tbl_236.xls", although its name might vary) attached to this email must remain unopened.

Threat Summary:

Name	Payments Due spam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	This malspam campaign is disguised as an email regarding supposed payments.
Attachment(s)	tbl_236.xls (its name might vary).
Detection Names	ALYac (Trojan.Downloader.XLS.gen), Fortinet (MSExcel/Agent.CZQ!tr), McAfee (W97M/Downloader.czq), Symantec (Scr.MalMacro!gen2), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal).
Symptoms	Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate the victim's computer and remain silent, and thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine.
Payload	Gozi
Distribution methods	Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software 'cracks'.
Damage	Stolen passwords and banking information, identity theft, the 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.

Other examples of similar malspam campaigns are "Your Purchase Of BTC Has Started Email Virus", "National Bank Of Greece Email Virus" and "Black Lives Matter Email Virus".

The main purpose of these campaigns is to trick recipients into executing a malicious file designed to infect the computer with high-risk malware, thereby helping cyber criminals to generate revenue. Some examples of malicious software that could be distributed via such emails are TrickBot, Agent Tesla, NanoCore and Dridex.

How did "Payments Due email virus" infect my computer?

In this case, Gozi is installed on computers only when recipients open the malicious attachment ("tbl_236.xls" or a differently named Microsoft Excel document) and allow it to enable editing and content (run macro commands). Note that these malicious attachments cannot cause installation of malware as long as they remain unopened.

More examples of files that cyber criminals often attach to their emails to spread malware are other malicious Microsoft Office documents, PDF documents, executable files (.exe), JavaScript files, archives (ZIP, RAR).

How to avoid installation of malware

Ignore irrelevant emails that contain attachments or website links, especially the emails are received from unknown, suspicious addresses. In most cases, cyber criminals try to make their emails seem believable by disguising them as important, official, and so on.

Do not download or install software through third party downloaders/installers or from unofficial pages, via Peer-to-Peer networks such as torrent clients, eMule, etc. All software and files should be downloaded only from official websites and via direct links.

Update and activate installed software only with tools or implemented functions that are provided by official software developers. Other (unofficial, third party) tools often infect computers with malware. Note that it is illegal to activate licensed software with unofficial, 'cracking' tools.

Perform regular scans using reputable anti-spyware or anti-virus software and ensure that this software is kept up to date. If you have already opened "Payments Due email virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Payments Due email virus" email message:

Subject: Payments 20639

Please see attached all payments due June 20 , 2020

Malicious attachment distributed via "Payments Due 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 Payments Due 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