Avoid infecting your device with malware via fake "Walmart" emails

What are fake "Walmart" emails?

"Walmart email virus" is a malware-proliferating spam campaign. This term defines a mass-scale operation during which thousands of deceptive emails are sent.

The letters distributed through this campaign - are presented as delivery notifications from Walmart - an American international department and grocery store chain.

Despite their legitimate appearance, these emails are fraudulent and are in no way associated with Walmart Inc. Upon opening the fake payment invoice - download/installation of the Dridex malicious program is triggered.

The fake "Walmart" emails (subject/title "Invoice copy 6936415"; may vary) inform recipients that their payment has been received and their parcel will be delivered soon. Before the delivery, the scam letters request recipients to review the "payment invoice".

When this Microsoft Office Excel document is opened, and its macro commands enabled - Dridex malware's download/installation is initiated. The primary functionality of Dridex is data theft.

This malicious software has keylogging abilities. In other words, it can record keystrokes.

This endangers the privacy and security of typed information. Typically, keylogging is used to obtain the log-in credentials (i.e., IDs, usernames, and passwords) of various accounts and platforms. For example, finance-related accounts (e.g., online banks, e-commerce, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and/or online purchases.

Communication platforms (e.g., emails, social networking, social media, messengers, etc.) are also of interest to cyber criminals. These accounts can be used to ask contacts, friends, or followers for loans - under the guise of the genuine owner.

Alternatively, the platforms can be used to proliferate malware by sharing infectious files and/or links to malicious websites. To summarize, by trusting the fake "Walmart" emails, users can experience system infections, severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

If it is known or suspected that Dridex (or other malware) has already infected the system - an anti-virus must be used to remove it immediately.

Threat Summary:

Name	Walmart spam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	Scam emails are presented as purchase notifications.
Disguise	Emails are disguised as notifications from Walmart.
Attachment(s)	Invoice_78084.xlsm (filename may vary)
Detection Names	Avast (SNH:Script [Dropper]), BitDefender (Trojan.GenericKD.46205626), Fortinet (VBA/Dloader.RAFM!tr), Kaspersky (UDS:DangerousObject.Multi.Generic), McAfee (X97M/Downloader.im), 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	Dridex
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.

"Spring Marine Management S.A.", "Romanian Post", "Employee Retention Credit", and "KIO KOREA" are some examples of malware-spreading spam campaigns. The emails distributed through these large-scale operations are usually presented as "urgent", "important", "priority", and/or disguised as mail from real companies, institutions, organizations, authorities, and other entities.

Aside from distribution of malicious software, scam letters are used to facilitate phishing and other scams. Regardless of what these emails promise, offer, request, or demand, the end-goal is the same - to generate revenue for the scammers/ cyber criminals behind them.

Due to the prevalence of spam mail, it is recommended to exercise caution with incoming emails.

How did "Walmart email virus" infect my computer?

Systems are infected via malicious files distributed through spam campaigns. Infectious files can be attached to the emails, and/or the letters can contain download links of malicious content.

Virulent files can be in various formats, e.g., Microsoft Office and PDF documents, archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, and so forth. When the files are executed, run, or otherwise opened - malware download/installation is jumpstarted.

For example, Microsoft Office documents cause infections by executing malicious macro commands. This process begins the moment a document is opened in Microsoft Office versions released prior to 2010.

Later versions have "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic execution of macros. Instead, users are asked to enable editing/content (i.e., macro commands) and warned of the potential risks.

How to avoid installation of malware?

To avoid infecting the system via spam mail, it is advised against opening suspect and irrelevant emails - especially any attachments or links present in them. It is recommended to use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010.

Malware is not spread exclusively through spam campaigns, it is also distributed via dubious download channels (e.g., unofficial and free file-hosting websites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks, and other third-party downloaders), illegal activation ("cracking") tools, and fake updates.

Therefore, it is important to use only official and verified download sources. Additionally, all programs must be activated and updated with tools/functions provided by legitimate developers.

It is crucial to have a dependable anti-virus/anti-software suite installed and kept updated. This software has to be used to run regular system scans and remove detected threats and issues.

If you've already opened "Walmart email virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Walmart" scam email letter:

Subject: Invoice copy 6936415

 

Walmart homepage

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Hi,

 

We have received your payment and ready to deliver parcel to you.
Please check your payment invoice once more before delivery.

 

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Walmart protects your security and privacy. We will never ask for personal information (such as passwords or credit card numbers) in an email. If you receive such a request, please do not respond. Learn more about online safety and see our Privacy Policy.

 

Please do not reply to this email. This mailbox is not monitored.

 

© 2020 Walmart. All rights reserved.

Appearance of the fake "Walmart" email (GIF):

Malicious attachment distributed via "Walmart email virus" spam campaign ("Invoice_78084.xlsm" filename):

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 Walmart 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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