Avoid getting scammed by fake "MijnOverheid" emails

What is "MijnOverheid email scam"?

"MijnOverheid email scam" is a spam campaign. These spam emails are disguised as letters concerning a tax refund from MijnOverheid - a personal website used to deal with matters relating to the Dutch authorities. It must be emphasized that the scam emails in question are fake and in no way associated with the genuine MijnOverheid.

"MijnOverheid email scam" in detail

According to a rough translation, the fake "MijnOverheid" emails claim that recipients are eligible for a 703.79 EUR tax refund. To receive the fraudulent refund, recipients are instructed to click on a link presented in the letters. These scam emails also contain warnings about phishing scams and state that genuine MijnOverheid notifications do not contain links - while containing a link leading to a malicious website.

Spam campaigns like "MijnOverheid" typically aim to obtain sensitive information from their victims. They can promote phishing sites that use varied disguises to acquire vulnerable data (e.g., account usernames/passwords, personally identifiable details, banking account information, credit card numbers, etc.).

The extracted data is often used to steal the victim's identity and make monetary transactions, online purchases, loan requests, and similar. Alternatively, the stolen information can be sold to third-parties (potentially, cyber criminals) and/or used to create personalized scams.

To summarize, by trusting fake "MijnOverheid" emails, users can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

Threat Summary:

Name	MijnOverheid email scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Scam emails claim recipients are eligible to receive a tax refund.
Disguise	Scam emails are disguised as messages from MijnOverheid.
Related Domains	nuterug-betalingen[.]buzz
Detection Names (nuterug-betalingen[.]buzz)	Fortinet (Phishing), Kaspersky (Phishing), Webroot (Malicious), Forcepoint ThreatSeeker (Suspicious), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
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

"Unfortunately, There Are Some Bad News For You", "DHL Undelivered Package Email Scam", "Dropbox Email Scam", "This Is The Last Reminder", "Outlook Email Quota Email Scam", and "Uplift International Charity Lottery Program" are some examples of spam campaigns.

The emails distributed through these operations - are usually presented as "official", "important", "priority", and similar. In addition to phishing and other scams, spam mail is also used to spread malware (e.g., trojans, ransomware, etc.). Due to the prevalence of this mail, it is strongly advised to exercise caution with incoming emails and messages.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam emails can contain virulent files as attachments or download links. These files can be in various formats, e.g., archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), PDF and Microsoft Office documents, JavaScript, and so on. When the files are opened - malware download/installation is initiated.

For example, Microsoft Office documents cause infections by executing malicious macro commands. This process begins when a document is opened in Microsoft Office versions released before 2010. Later versions have "Protected View" mode that prevents this process; instead, uses can manually enable macros (i.e., editing/content). Note that infectious documents often contain deceptive messages designed to trick users into enabling macro commands.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Suspicious and irrelevant emails should not be opened, especially any attachments or links found in them - as they are origins of potential system infections. It is recommended to use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010.

Aside from spam mail, malware is also proliferated via dubious download channels (e.g., Peer-to-Peer sharing networks, unofficial and freeware websites, etc.), illegal activation tools ("cracks"), and fake updates. Therefore, it is advised to download only from official/verified sources and activate/update programs using tools provided by genuine developers.

It is paramount to have a dependable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date. This software has to be used to run regular system scans and to remove 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 "MijnOverheid" scam email letter:

Subject: Uw teruggave staat klaar

Logo Rijksoverheid
MijnOverheid
 

Geachte heer/mevrouw,

Wij hebben vastgesteld dat u in aanmerking komt voor een terugbetaling.
Uw belastingtoeslag bedraagt 703,79 EUR.

 

Om uw teruggave te ontvangen vragen wij u om uw gegevens te
controleren en te verifiëren. Uw fiscale terugbetaling kan alleen op uw
bankrekening worden bijgeschreven als wij beschikken over de juiste
gegevens.

 

Klik hier om uw aanvraag in te dienen.

Met vriendelijke groet,
MijnOverheid
Logo Rijksoverheid

 

Handig: Berichtenbox app
Post van de overheid direct lezen op uw mobiel of tablet? Dat kan met de Berichtenbox app van MijnOverheid. Download de app via de App Store of via Google Play.
Dit is een automatisch gegenereerd bericht. Een reactie op dit bericht zal niet worden gelezen of beantwoord.

 

MijnOverheid stuurt geen notificaties met een link naar de website. Dit is om te voorkomen dat u met valse e-mailnotificaties naar een namaak-website wordt geleid (zogenaamde phishing). Neem daarom het webadres van MijnOverheid op in uw Favorieten en ga altijd van daaruit naar de website. Ontvangt u toch een e-mailnotificatie met daarin een link, dan is deze dus nooit van MijnOverheid.

Appearance of the "MijnOverheid" scam email (GIF):

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▼ 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 MijnOverheid 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?

Scam emails are not personal; they are sent by the thousand in large-scale operations.

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

If you've inadvertently disclosed account credentials - change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts without delay and contact their official support. If the information was of a different personal nature (e.g., credit card numbers, ID card details, etc.) - contact the relevant authorities immediately.

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

No, opening a spam email will not initiate infection processes. However, the file attachments and links present in such mail - can start malware download/installation when they are opened/clicked.

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

If the opened attachment was an executable file - then, it is highly likely, that yes - your system is infected. If it was a document (e.g., .pdf, .doc, etc.) - you might have avoided triggering an infection, as these files can require additional actions to jumpstart such processes.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate most known malware infections. However, it is crucial to run a full system scan - since sophisticated malicious programs usually hide deep within the system.

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