Avoid losing email accounts via the DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING scam email

What is the "DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING" scam email?

"DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING" is a spam campaign, a large-scale operation during which deceptive emails are sent by the thousand. The messages distributed through this campaign are presented as invoice notifications.

These scam emails aim to promote a phishing website, which is disguised as a Microsoft Office Excel file. To view the fake document, users are asked to sign-in using their email accounts. Phishing sites are designed to record the information entered into them, in this case, email account passwords.

The "DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING" scam messages (subject/title "invoice 073/0542021" may vary) claim to contain an invoice. Recipients are to review it by clicking "VIEW" or "DOWNLOAD". Pressing either leads to a phishing web page that appears like a "Protected" Microsoft Office document.

To see the bogus file, recipients are to enter their email addresses and passwords. Any information provided to this site will be recorded and sent to the scammers behind this spam campaign, thereby allowing them to steal the corresponding email accounts.

Hence, by trusting the "DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING" scam emails, recipients can lose their mail accounts and experience a variety of other serious problems.

Scammers and cyber criminals commonly target email accounts. Emails are typically connected with other platforms and services. Therefore, through hijacked mail accounts, those associated with them can also be stolen.

To elaborate, scammers can pose as the communication platforms' (e.g., email, social networking, social media, messenger, etc.) genuine owners and ask contacts/friends/followers for loans.

Alternatively, these platforms can also be used to proliferate malware by sharing infectious files and malicious website links. Finance-related accounts (e.g., banking, online money transferring, e-commerce, digital wallet, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and online purchases.

To summarize, the "DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING" scam emails can lead to recipients experiencing severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

If attempts to log-in through the phishing website have already been made, immediately change the potentially compromised account passwords. Additionally, contact the official support of all endangered platforms.

Threat Summary:

Name	DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Scam emails claim to contain an invoice that recipients are asked to review.
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. ▼ 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.

"GoDaddy email scam", "Facebook Lottery", "Banca Sella email scam", and "PASSWORD EXPIRATION NOTICE" are some examples of other phishing spam campaigns.

The messages sent through these mass-scale operations are usually disguised as "official", "important", "urgent", and similar. The goal of scam emails is to generate revenue for the scammers/cyber criminals behind them.

Spam campaigns are not used only for phishing and other scams, they are also employed to spread malware (e.g., trojans, ransomware, etc.). Due to the prevalence of spam mail, exercise caution with incoming emails.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Phishing emails that are used to deliver malware generally contain a download link for a malicious file or attachment. Typically, cyber criminals attempt to trick recipients into opening a PDF or Microsoft Office document, JavaScript file, an executable file (.exe), ZIP, RAR, or other archive file that is designed to install specific malicious software.

Note that malicious MS Office documents can install malware only when users enable editing/content (macros commands). If the documents are opened with MS Office versions prior to 2010, however, the documents install malicious software automatically, since these older versions do not include "Protected View" mode.

How to avoid installation of malware

To avoid malware spread via spam mail, you are strongly advised against opening suspicious or irrelevant emails, especially those with any attachments or links present within them.

Additionally, use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010. Malicious programs also proliferate through untrusted download channels (e.g. unofficial and free file-hosting sites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks and other third party downloaders), illegal software activation ("cracking") tools, and fake updaters.

Therefore, only download from official/verified sources and activate and update software with tools/functions provided by legitimate developers.

To ensure device integrity and user privacy, have a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and kept updated. Furthermore, use these programs to run regular system scans and to remove detected/potential threats.

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 "DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING" scam email message:

Subject: invoice 073/0542021

 

Dear Sir,
You can find the invoice 073/0542021. Kindly proceed.
Tracking number SR94171

 

Thank you!

 

VIEW | DOWNLOAD
This excel file is protected.
 
Regards,
Sandra Paul  (Ms.)
DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING SDN BHD
Lot 6, Wilton III,
Kawasan Perindustrian Aja Gajah,
78000 Alor Gajah,
Melaka.
Tel: 06-3218790

Screenshot of the phishing website promoted through the "DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING" spam campaign:

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Quick menu:

• What is DENTIN METAL ENGINEERING 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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