How to spot malicious emails like DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer

What kind of scam is "DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer"?

We have analyzed this email and found that it is used to deliver a remote administration Trojan called njRat. Cybercriminals behind this campaign pretend to be DHL - a legitimate logistics company. Their goal is to trick recipients into opening a malicious attachment.

More about the "DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer" malspam campaign

The letter is disguised as a DHL shipment notification. It claims that representatives of the DHL company have called your office but could not reach you. Cybercriminals behind it attempt to trick recipients into believing that the file attached to it is a shipping document. Opening that file infects a computer with the njRAT.

The newest known njRAT variant can download files to a computer, enable and disable Command Prompt, copy clipboard data, shut down and restart a computer, remove cookies from the Chrome browser, recover updated passwords, and more.

Typically, RATs are used to steal sensitive information and infect computers with other malware (for example, ransomware). However, most RATs can do more and are misused for miscellaneous purposes. Either way, if there is a RAT present and it was not installed on purpose, it should be removed immediately.

Threat Summary:

Name	DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer malspam campaign
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Hoax	Recipient cannot be reached by the DHL company
Attachment(s)	bill of lading and commercial invoice.xlsx.img (its name may vary)
Detection Names (Attachment)	Avast (VBS:Dropper-VX [Trj]), Combo Cleaner (Trojan.GenericKD.50095547), ESET-NOD32 (VBS/TrojanDownloader.Agent.WWV), Kaspersky (HEUR:Trojan-Downloader.Script.SLoad.gen), Microsoft (Trojan:VBS/Tnega.RVA!MTB), 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	njRat
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.

Malspam campaigns in general

In most cases, emails used to deliver malware are disguised as official/important letters from legitimate entities (companies, organizations, etc.). They often have logos of real companies (and names of existing people) in them. Examples of other malspam campaigns are "DHL Express Import Shipment On Hold Email Virus", "STC Email Virus", "ShenZhen A&E Email Virus"

How did malware in the "DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer" has infected my computer?

njRAT infects a computer after downloading and opening/executing a malicious attachment named "attachment "bill of lading and commercial invoice.xlsx.img". In other cases, emails used to deliver malware contain malicious MS Office, PDF documents, JavaScript files, archive files, executables, or other files.

Not all files can infect computers once they are opened. For example, malicious MS Office documents cannot inject malware until macros commands are enabled. It is important to mention that this does not apply to documents opened with MS Office versions released before 2010.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Do not trust irrelevant emails received from unknown addresses. Especially when emails of this kind contain links or attachments. Opening files (or links) in such emails can result in having a computer infected with high-risk malware.

Also, use official pages and direct links as sources for downloading files and programs. Avoid using other sources. Update and activate the installed software properly - achieve it with tools provided by the official developers.

If you've already opened "DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer email virus" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer" email letter:

RE: DHL Shipment Notification: 1882883940

Dear Customer,

We called his office number but got no answer.

The original shipping documents and the BL assigned by your customer are attached.
Notification for shipping group ## picked up # 04/06/22 to 04/08/22022

NOTE, if not picked up after 04/10/22022, shipment will be returned to owner

.................................... .................................... .................................... ....................................

AWB NUMBER: 23445678
PICK UP DATE: 04/06/2022 to 04/08/22022
Service: P
Pieces: 2
CLIENT: Ref.
Description: COMMERCIAL INVOICE AND LANDING INVOICE ETC

........... .................................... .................................... .................................... ....................................

Greetings

Thank you for shipping with DHL Express!
deutsche post DHL, the mail and logistics group
2022 @ DHL INTERNATIONAL GMBH .....
EMAIL.. DHL @ DELIVERY.COM

Detection names for the malicious attachment:

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 DHL Express - Called But Got No Answer malspam campaign?
• 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?

Cybercriminals behind malspam campaigns (emails used to deliver malware) send the same letter to all recipients. These emails are never personal.

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

If the file was an executable, then most certainly, your computer is infected. However, if it was a document or another file (for example, an archive file), you may have avoided the infection. Opening malicious documents is not enough for malware to infiltrate the system. Malicious MS Office documents cannot infect computers unless macros commands are enabled.

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

No, opening an email by itself is completely harmless. Cybercriminals cannot successfully infect computers without users executing malware (opening files or links within emails used to deliver malware).

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner will remove detected malware from the operating system. It can detect almost all known malware. Usually, high-end malware hides deep in the system. For this reason, running a full system scan is a must.

▼ Show Discussion