How to spot scams like You Have Sent The Payment - PayPal phishing scam

What kind of scam is "You have sent the payment - PayPal"?

We have examined this email and concluded that it is a phishing scam used to trick unsuspecting recipients into opening a deceptive website and providing their PayPal login credentials. In order to make this phishing email legitimate, scammers use the real PayPal logo in it.

"You have sent the payment - PayPal" phishing email in detail

The email states that the payment of $999.00 has been sent from the recipient's PayPal account to Nova Armory Inc. This statement is supposed to help scammers to trick a recipient (who did not actually make any payment) into checking the PayPal account via the provided link. Scammers behind this phishing email seek to steal PayPal accounts (login credentials used to access them).

Threat Summary:

Name	You Have Sent The Payment - PayPal Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient has made a payment from a PayPal account
Disguise	Letter from PayPal
Symptoms	Unauthorized monetary transactions, changed online account passwords, identity theft
Distribution methods	Deceptive emails
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.

Phishing emails in general

As a rule, phishing emails are disguised as official/important/urgent letters from legitimate entities. They contain links to fake websites asking to provide sensitive information such as login credentials, social security numbers, credit card details, or other information.

More examples of phishing emails are "Update Required To Avoid Login Interruption Email Scam", "Account Version Is Outdated Email Scam", "You Have Received An Encrypted Message Email Scam". Another way to cause harm via email is to trick recipients into executing malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Emails used to distribute malware contain links or attachments. Threat actors use them to trick recipients into executing a malicious file. Usually, files presented in malicious emails are disguised as official, important documents. Most cybercriminals use MS Office, PDF documents, JavaScript, archives, executables, or other files to deliver malware.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Do not open files (and website links) presented in irrelevant emails received from unknown, suspicious addresses. In most cases, files/links in emails of this kind are malicious. Also, use only official pages (and direct links) as sources for downloading files and programs.

Update and (or) activate the installed programs using tools provided by their official developers. Never use any third-party tools for that. If you've already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Appearance of the "You have sent the payment - PayPal" phishing email (GIF):

Text presented in the email letter:

PayPal

Receipt No. :- 0158-6987-1468-2896
Date :- Jan 12th, 2022

Dear Paypal Customer!

You have sent the payment of $999.00 to Nova Armory Inc.

This charge will appear on your bank statement as payment to PAYPAL *Nova Armory Inc.

Save time with a PayPal accountCreate a PayPal account and save your payment information. You won't need to enter your payment information every time you shop online.
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Merchant Information:
Nova Armory Inc.

Instructions to merchant:
None provided

Shipping information:

Shipping Method:
Not Specified

Description Unit Price Qty Amount
Online-Order $999.00 1.0 $999.00

Total : $999.00

Receipt No. -:- 0158-6987-1468-2896

Please keep this receipt number for future reference. You will need it to contact customer service at PayPal. You have 24 hour from the date of the transaction to open a dispute. For assistance call 1-(800)-968-3230

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:
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Quick menu:

• What is You have sent the payment - PayPal phishing email?
• 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?

It is not a personal email - scammers do not target anyone in particular. They send the same email to all addresses in their database. Usually, scammers use emails obtained after data breaches.

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

Contact PayPal and see if they support team can help you to solve the problem (recover the lost PayPal account and funds). Also, change all passwords as soon as possible.

Can email attachments and links in malicious emails infect computers?

Yes, attachments and files downloaded from websites presented in emails sent to deliver malware can cause computer infections. Thus, do not open links/files in irrelevant emails received from unknown, suspicious addresses.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate almost all known malware. High-end malware can hide deep in the operating system. For this reason, a computer has to be scanned using a full scan.

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