Do not trust fake Principal Financial Group "Retirement Funds" emails
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What kind of email is "Retirement Funds"?
After inspecting the "Retirement Funds" email, we determined that it is spam operating as a phishing scam. This letter is disguised as a notification from Principal regarding recipients' retirement funds.
It must be emphasized that this email is fake, and it is in no way associated with Principal Financial Group – a global financial investment management and insurance company. This spam mail aims to steal recipients' Principal account log-in credentials through a phishing website.
"Retirement Funds" email scam overview
The spam email with the subject "Retirement Funds : Important Documents." (may vary) claims that the recipient has new documents relating to their retirement funds. Said data has been supposedly securely uploaded to their online Principal account. The recipient is asked to sign into their account and review the documents.
As previously mentioned, all this information is fake, and this letter is not associated with Principal Financial Group. Therefore, when we clicked the "Review Document Online" link, it resulted in a redirect to a phishing website that mimics Principal's sign-in webpage.
Log-in credentials (usernames/passwords) entered into this site will be disclosed to the scammers behind this spam campaign. With this information in their possession, the cyber criminals can steal the exposed accounts and may gain control over the funds stored therein.
To summarize, by trusting an email like "Retirement Funds" – users can experience severe privacy issues, significant financial losses, and identity theft.
If you have already provided your account credentials to scammers – change the passwords of all potentially exposed accounts and inform their official support without delay. Additionally, if you suspect that your personally-identifiable and/or finance-related information is at risk – immediately contact the appropriate authorities.
| Name | "Retirement Funds" phishing email |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Important retirement fund related documents have been sent to the recipient's Principal account. |
| Disguise | Principal Financial Group |
| Related Domains | zalom.com[.]au |
| Detection Names (zalom.com[.]au) | Combo Cleaner (Malware), Fortinet (Phishing), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal) |
| Serving IP Address (zalom.com[.]au) | 116.0.23.223 |
| 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. |
Phishing spam campaign examples
We have analyzed countless spam emails; "Mailbox Quota Exceeded", "Intesa Sanpaolo email scam", and "Social Security Account Missing Information" are merely a couple examples of phishing letters we have inspected recently.
Deceptive mail can be variously disguised, including as messages from legitimate companies, institutions, organizations, authorities, service providers, and other entities. Spam emails are used to facilitate various scams and even to distribute trojans, ransomware, cryptocurrency miners, and other malware.
Due to how widespread and well-crafted spam mail can be – we strongly recommend exercising caution with incoming emails and messages.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Spam campaigns proliferate malware through attached or linked malicious files. These files can be executables (.exe, .run, etc.), archives (RAR, ZIP, etc.), documents (PDF, Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.
When a virulent file is opened – the infection chain is initiated. For example, Microsoft Office documents infect systems by executing malicious macro commands. While infectious Microsoft OneNote files require users to click embedded content – to start downloading/installing malware.
How to avoid installation of malware?
We highly recommend being vigilant with incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages. The attachments and links found in suspect/irrelevant mail must not be opened, as they can be infectious. We advise using post-2010 Microsoft Office versions since they have the "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic macro execution.
However, malware is not spread only via spam mail. Therefore, it is important to download only from official and verified channels. Furthermore, all programs must be activated and updated using legitimate functions/tools, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updaters can contain malware.
Another recommendation is to be careful when browsing since fake and malicious online content usually appears ordinary and innocuous.
We must emphasize that having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept updated is essential to device and user safety. Security software must be used to perform regular system scans and to remove detected 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 "Retirement Funds" spam email letter:
Subject: Retirement Funds : Important Documents.
Principal
You have important documents regarding your retirement funds securely uploaded online on your
account.
Please login below to review your documents online:
Review Document Online
Thank you,
Principal Investments.
Screenshot of the promoted phishing website that is disguised as the Principal sign-in page:
Another example of an email from "Retirement Funds" spam campaign:
Text presented within:
Subject: Blessings!!!
Good evening or good morning!
My name is Dr. Gowin Emefiele former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). I am currently under the custody of DSS in Nigeria for alleged embesslement of funds.
The present government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is witch-hunting me for running against him during the last general election in Nigeria while I was still the CBN governor.
To go straight to the point without much ado, I have some funds in USD with undisclosed bank in Europe, I want you to receive the funds before they trace it as they are currently busy investigating me and seizing all my assets and funds hiden for my retirement.
I wait for your postive response to enable me direct you on how you can receive the funds.
My kindest regards,
Dr. Godwin Emefiele
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Quick menu:
- What is "Retirement 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?
Cyber criminals distribute spam emails by the thousand with the hopes that at least some recipients will fall for their scams. This mail is not personal.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?
If you have provided account credentials – immediately change the passwords of all potentially exposed accounts and inform their official support. And if you've disclosed other private data (e.g., ID card details, credit card numbers, etc.) – contact the corresponding authorities without delay.
I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?
No, merely opening/reading an email will not trigger any malware download/installation chains. Devices are infected when malicious attachments/links are opened.
I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?
If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes – the system was infected. However, you might have avoided an infection if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may need additional user interaction (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded content, etc.) to begin downloading/installing malware.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?
Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and eliminating most of the known malware infections. It must be stressed that since sophisticated malicious programs tend to hide deep within systems – performing a full system scan is paramount.
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