How to spot deceptive emails like "Transfer Profit Funds" scam email
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What kind of scam is "Transfer Profit Funds"?
After reviewing this letter, we found that it is a phishing email. Its purpose is to convince the recipients that they have earned money from crypto mining. This email contains a link to a phishing website where visitors are asked to provide login information. Recipients should ignore this phishing email.
More about the "Transfer Profit Funds" scam email
This scam email reports that the profit is $15754. To access the funds, it instructs recipients to go to their accounts. The provided link is stated to be active for 7 hours. Clicking that link opens a phishing website.
That website claims that 364 days ago, visitors registered on the platform for automatic cloud Bitcoin mining. It was done by linking their devices to the platform using their IP address. Although users have not been active in their accounts, the collection of cryptocurrency has been happening automatically from their devices.
In order to prevent account deletion and get paid, visitors are instructed to log into their accounts and withdraw funds. They are prompted to provide their username and password to log in. It is clear that scammers behind this email/website aim to steal login information.
Depending on the type of hijacked accounts, scammers could use them to steal money, and identities, deliver malware, send spam, access more sensitive information, etc. Thus, it is strongly recommended to ignore suspicious emails requesting personal information (e.g., prompting to log into accounts via the provided websites).
| Name | Transfer Profit Funds Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | The recipient can transfer mined cryptocurrency funds |
| Disguise | Letter from a crypto mining platform |
| Related Domain | activebtc[.]store, bro-spots[.]site, bir-con[.]site |
| Detection Names (activebtc[.]store) | N/A (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. |
Similar scam emails in general
Scammers behind scam emails often pose as legitimate companies, organizations, or real individuals to deceive recipients into providing sensitive information or transferring money. They aim to obtain credit card details, login information, social security numbers, ID card information, and other details.
Examples of scam emails are "Upgrade Zimbra Account", "Donation From Lottery Winner", and "New Security Features". Threat actors also use email to trick recipients into infecting their computers.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Users infect computers after downloading and executing malware by themselves. Emails used to deliver malware contain malicious links or attachments. Cybercriminals use malicious MS Office, PDF documents, archives, JavaScript files, ISO files, executables, and other files to trick users into infecting computers.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Download software and files from reputable sources (official pages and verified stores). Be cautious of unexpected or irrelevant emails from unknown addresses, especially if they have attachments or links. Avoid clicking ads on questionable websites. Keep software and the operating system up-to-date. Use trusted antivirus and regularly run system scans.
If you've already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Phishing website promoted via this scam email (GIF):
Text presented in the "Transfer Profit Funds" email letter:
Subject: -: Mining_transfer_0.7453_BTC
Your profit is $15754
To transfer funds, go to your account
-
The link is active for 7 hours
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Quick menu:
- What is Transfer Profit Funds 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?
Scammers have sent the same letter to more than one person (probably tens or hundreds of people). Such letters are not personal.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
Change passwords immediately if you have shared account credentials (login information). If you have shared other personal information (e.g., credit card info, ID card details, social security numbers), notify relevant authorities.
I have downloaded and opened a file attached to this email, is my computer infected?
If the file you opened is executable, your computer is probably infected. If you have opened a document or another file, the risk of infection is lower since just opening documents usually is not enough for malware to spread.
I have sent cryptocurrency to the address presented in such email, can I get my money back?
Cryptocurrency transactions are not reversible. Therefore, it is not possible to retrieve funds.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Clicking links within emails and opening attached files leads to system infections. Simply opening emails is completely harmless.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Yes, Combo Cleaner will run a system scan and remove detected threats. This app can remove almost all known malware. It s required to run a full scan to remove high-end malware since malware of this kind usually hides deep in the system.
Outstanding!
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