Avoid losing your email account via fake "Wage Increase" email

What is "Wage Increase email scam"?

"Wage Increase email scam" is the name of a spam campaign - a mass-scale operation during which thousands of deceptive emails are sent. The scam emails sent through this campaign - notify recipients of a change within the payment structure and a supposed wage increase.

The aim of this spam mail is to promote a phishing website, which targets email account log-in credentials (i.e., email addresses and corresponding passwords). The promoted site uses Google APIs - a legitimate service for improving web and app functionalities.

"Wage Increase" scam email in detail

The fake "Wage Increase" emails (subject/title "Updated JULY Payment Structure (Final Post-Covid-19 listing) And Classified Company Docments"; may vary) claim that recipients' wages will increase. The Human Resources department will allegedly provide additional information.

It must be emphasized that all of the information provided by these letters - is false. Should users try to follow the instructions given by the scam emails, they will be redirected to the phishing website. This page requests users to sign in using their email account credentials.

As mentioned in the introduction, the promoted webpage is a phishing site - hence, any information entered into it is recorded and sent to its designers. Therefore, by trying to log in through this website - users can have their email accounts stolen.

Scammers constantly target emails as they are typically connected to (e.g., used to register other) accounts, platforms, and services. Hence, through stolen emails - access/control might be gained over content associated with them. Unauthorized access can be abused in various ways.

For example, communication accounts (e.g., emails, social media, social networking, messengers, etc.) can be used to ask contacts/friends/followers for loans - under the guise of the genuine owner. These platforms can also be used to spread malware by sharing malicious files or links.

Finance-related accounts (e.g., banking, online money transferring, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and/or online purchases. To summarize, by trusting the "Wage Increase" scam emails, users can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If attempts to sign in through the phishing website have already been made, it is crucial to immediately change the compromised log-in credentials. Furthermore, it is recommended to contact the official support of all potentially exposed accounts and platforms.

Threat Summary:

Name	Wage Increase Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Scam emails claim that recipients' wages will increase
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.

Spam campaigns in general

"The BMW Lottery", "Mail Delivery Failure", "Anti-spam policy violation", and "UN Covid-19 stimulus package" are some examples of phishing spam campaigns. These scams target the log-in credentials of various accounts/platforms, as well as personally identifiable information.

However, these large-scale operations are not used exclusively for phishing and other scams, they are also employed to proliferate malware (e.g., trojans, ransomware, etc.). Due to how common spam mail is, it is strongly advised to exercise caution with incoming emails.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns spread malware via infectious files distributed through them. These files can be attached to the emails, or the letters can contain download links of such files. Virulent files can be in various formats, e.g., archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), PDF and Microsoft Office documents, JavaScript, and so forth.

For example, Microsoft Office documents cause infections by executing malicious macro commands. This occurs the moment a document is opened in Microsoft Office versions released before 2010. Later versions have "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic execution of macros. Instead, users can manually enable editing/content (i.e., macro commands), and they are warned of the risks.

How to avoid installation of malware?

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

Malware is distributed via dubious download sources (e.g., unofficial/freeware sites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks, etc.), illegal activation tools ("cracks"), and fake updates. Therefore, it is important to download from official/verified sources. Additionally, programs must be activated/updated using tools provided by genuine developers.

It is paramount to have a dependable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and kept updated. This software has to be used to perform regular system scans and to remove detected threats. If you've already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Wage Increase" scam email letter:

Subject: Updated JULY Payment Structure (Final Post-Covid-19 listing) And Classified Company Docments

 

Dear All,
   
As already announced, The year's Wage increase will start in June of 2021
and will be paid out for the first time by July, with recalculation as of June.

 

View salary-increase-sheet-June-2021.xls   

 

You will be informed of the details in advance by letter from the Human Resource department.

 

regards
******** Management

Screenshot of the phishing webpage promoted by the "Wage Increase" spam campaign:

Another example of an email from "Wage Increase" spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: Updated NOVEMBER Payment Structure (Final Post-Covid-19 listing) And Classified Comapny Docments For You!!!

 

Dear All,
   
As already announced, The year's end of the year Wage bonus/increase will start in November of 2023
and will be paid out for the first time this NOVEMBER, with recalculation as of September
Also find some classified company info/document for you.
   

View salary-review-sheet-NOVEMBER-2023-And-Classified-Company-Info/Doc.xls   

   
You will be informed of the details in advance by letter from the Human Resource department.

Regards.
- Management

Yet another example of an email from "Wage Increase" spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: Updated NOVEMBER Payment Structure And Classified Comapny Docments For You!!!

Dear All,

As already announced, The year's end of the year Wage bonus/increase will start in NOVEMBER of 2023
and will be paid out for the first time this NOVEMBER, with recalculation as of OCTOBER.
Also find those written in RED letters to ascertain if your name among those fully approved and wait for further instructions
H.R department
Also  some classified company info/document for you.

View salary-increase-sheet-NOVEMBER-2023-And-Classified-Company-Info/Doc.xls  

You will be informed of the details in advance by letter from the Human Resource department.

regards
******** Management

Yet another example of an email from "" spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: sent salary increase 2023

 

EMPLOYEE SALARY 2023

Dear -,

As already announced, this year's wage increase will start in November 2023 and will be paid out for the first time in December with recalculation as of November.

Please check and confirm attached Microsoft Excel Sheet to review.
Sent to - via Excel cloud share.

Screenshot of the attached phishing HTML document distributed via this spam email:

Yet another example of an email from "Wage Increase" spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: Febuary Salary Increase Statement

Dear - Find attached your Febuary Salary increase by the Board Of Directors. Please review and keep your records. Regards HR Manager

Screenshot of the promoted phishing site:

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 Wage Increase 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.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why did I receive this email?

Cyber criminals distribute spam emails in mass-scale campaigns with the hopes that at least some recipients will fall for their scams. Hence, even if these letters include relevant details, they are not personal.

I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?

If you have disclosed your account credentials – change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support. However, if you have provided other private data (e.g., ID card details, passport scans/photos, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the appropriate authorities.

I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Devices are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened; reading an email is harmless.

I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?

If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – it is most likely the case that the system was indeed compromised. However, you might have avoided an infection if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.). These formats may require extra actions (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded files/links, etc.) to initiate malware download/installation chains.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and eliminating practically all known malware infections. Note that running a full system scan is essential to detection since sophisticated malicious programs typically hide deep within systems.

▼ Show Discussion