How to spot fake letters like "Your Bitcoin Wallet Has Been Credited" scam email
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is "Your Bitcoin Wallet Has Been Credited"?
After analyzing this letter, we have determined that it is a fraudulent email designed to deceive recipients into disclosing sensitive information on a counterfeit website. These types of emails are commonly referred to as phishing emails. It is highly advised to disregard such emails and refrain from sharing any information on websites promoted through them.
More about the "Your Bitcoin Wallet Has Been Credited" scam email
This email notifies recipients that their Bitcoin wallet has been credited with 51.85 BTC, equivalent to $1,234,047.63 USD. The email requests recipients to confirm their Bitcoin balance by logging into the provided website (www.orchidcoin[.]net) using their customer ID and password.
The email urges recipients to confirm their balance as soon as possible. As we mentioned in the introduction, this email is a scam (a phishing attempt). The website presented in this email is fake. The purpose of that page is trick individuals into providing their login credentials and gaining access to their cryptocurrency wallets.
Once scammers have access to cryptocurrency wallets, they can transfer the funds to their own accounts and potentially steal a significant amount of money. By using a fake website, scammers can also obtain sensitive information like personal and financial data, which they can use for other fraudulent activities.
| Name | Your Bitcoin Wallet Has Been Credited Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Bitcoin wallet has been credited with 51.85 BTC |
| Disguise | Letter from a legitimate crypto-related company |
| 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
Emails of this type often create a sense of urgency or panic to make recipients act quickly without thinking critically. They request for personal information such as login credentials, credit card numbers, social security numbers, or other personal information.
Also, these emails usually contain links to fake websites designed to look legitimate but direct users to counterfeit sites where their information can be stolen.
Examples of similar emails are "Authenticate Your Credentials To Access All Your Documents Email Scam", "Messages Are Restrained Due To Low Bandwidth Email Scam", and "Authentication Required Email Scam". It is important to note that links and files in emails sent by crooks can be used to deliver malware.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Phishing emails can include attachments that contain malware, such as viruses, trojans, or ransomware. Common file types used to deliver malware via email include executable files (.exe), zip files (.zip), JavaScript files, Microsoft Office and PDF documents, and other files.
Also, emails can contain links to fake websites or malicious software downloads. Users unknowingly download malware onto their computers when clicking those links. Infections occur when users download and open malicious attachments or click on links that lead to fake websites.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Be careful when opening emails from unknown senders or suspicious emails from known senders. Always verify the authenticity of emails and links by double-checking the sender's email address and website URLs and avoiding downloading or opening suspicious attachments. Install reputable antivirus software.
Keep all software (including operating systems, web browsers, and plugins) updated with the latest security updates and patches. Download software and apps from official or reputable sources only. Do not trust ads and links on dubious websites.
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 "Your Bitcoin Wallet Has Been Credited" email letter:
Subject: BTC Alert.
Your Bitcoin wallet has been Credited with 51.85 BTC making a total sum of $1,234,047.63 USD. Kindly login with below details to confirm your BTC balance.
Website:WWW.ORCHIDCOIN.NET
Customer ID:-
Password:-
BTC Balance:$1,234,047.63 USDEnsure to confirm your balance ASAP.
Fake website promoted via this email:
Another example of an email promoting an identical scam website (swankoin[.]com):
Text presented within:
Subject: Transfer completed now
Hello
Your bitcoin wallet has been funded with 174 btc
Please login with below details to confirm.
SWANKOIN.COM
Customer ID: -
Code: -
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Quick menu:
- What is Your Bitcoin Wallet Has Been Credited 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 send the same letter to numerous recipients hoping that at least one person will be tricked. These spam emails are not personalized.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
In case you have provided any account credentials, it is recommended to change all passwords right away. If you have shared other personal information, like credit card details or ID card information, you should contact the relevant authorities as soon as possible.
I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
If the file was executable, then it is highly likely that your computer got infected. However, if it was a document file (such as .pdf or .doc), you might have avoided the infection because sometimes opening the document is not sufficient for the malware to enter the system.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Opening an email by itself is harmless, and only when the user clicks on links within the email or opens attached files does the risk of system infections arise.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Indeed, Combo Cleaner has the ability to detect and remove nearly all recognized malware infections. However, it is important to note that advanced malware often conceals itself deeply within the system. Therefore, it is highly recommended to perform a full system scan to ensure complete detection and removal.
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