How to spot phishing emails like Payment Forecast Of The Attached Invoice

What kind of email is "Payment Forecast Of The Attached Invoice"?

We have analyzed this email and found that its purpose is to trick recipients into providing email account login credentials on the presented phishing website. This email is disguised as an urgent letter regarding payment status.

More about "Payment Forecast Of The Attached Invoice" phishing email

The email encourages recipients to review the provided invoice. It contains a "Download" button with the Adobe Acrobat Reader logo. Also, it contains "Download" and "Preview" hyperlinks. Clicking any of them opens a deceptive website (a fake mail[.]com login page) asking to provide an email address and a password.

Provided login credentials can be used to access email and other accounts that share the same login credentials. Typically, scammers attempt to obtain access to accounts that could be used to steal sensitive information, identities, make monetary transactions, fraudulent purchases, etc.

Threat Summary:

Name	Payment Forecast Of The Attached Invoice Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Links in the email will open a legitimate/existing invoice
Disguise	Urgent letter regarding payment status
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.

Emails of this type in general

As a rule, phishing emails are disguised as official/important letters from banks, email service providers, social networking sites, online payment apps, etc. Scammers behind them seek to obtain sensitive information (like credit card details, login credentials, social security numbers).

More examples of phishing emails are "Habib Bank AG Zurich", "Download All Your Blocked Email Messages", "Removal From Server Has Been Approved And Initiated". Another malicious action that threat actors behind emails can have is to deliver malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

When cybercriminals use email as a tool to deliver malware, they attach a malicious file or include a malicious link. Either way, their goal is to trick recipients into opening a malicious file (MS Office, PDF document, executable, JavaScript, archive, or another file). Both malicious and phishing emails usually are disguised as letters from legitimate entities.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Examine emails before opening the presented links or attachments. If an email is irrelevant and sent from an unknown or suspicious address, keep the file or link in it unopened. Typically, emails of this kind are malicious. Also, avoid opening downloads from questionable sources. Use official pages and direct links to download files/programs.

Activate and update the installed software properly - achieve it using tools provided by the official developers. 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 "Payment Forecast Of The Attached Invoice" email letter:

URGENT//payment status

Hi

Good Morning.

I would be grateful if you would inform me of the payment forecast of the attached invoice click to preview or download.

PDF Adobe Download
INVOICE # 242.PDF(47878)
Download Preview
_THIS FILE IS PROTECTED

Virus free www.avg[.]com
Best Regards,
Judit Garem
ACcounts Payable

Phone: +1 315-474-2586

Screenshot of the phishing website:

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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 Payment Forecast Of The Attached Invoice 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?

Most likely, scammers got your email after a data breach. Either way, they send the same phishing email to all the addresses in their database. Their emails are never personal.

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

If you have provided your email address and password on the presented phishing website (fake mail[.]com or any other site), change all passwords immediately.

How malicious attachments or links in emails infect computers?

Recipients infect computers by executing a malicious file. In some cases (for example, when the opened malicious file is an MS Office document), it is necessary to take additional steps. Not all files can infect computers right after they are opened.

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

No, opening an email by itself is completely harmless. Therefore, your computer is not infected.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect malicious applications and files and remove them from the system. It is important to mention that high-end malware can be designed to hide deep in the system. In order to remove malware of this kind, it is necessary to run a full system scan.

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