How to spot phishing campaigns like "CONFIRM DELIVERY INFORMATION"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What kind of email is "CONFIRM DELIVERY INFORMATION"?
Upon examining this email, we have discovered that its intention is to deceive individuals into divulging personal details. The scammers behind this email pose as a reputable company, DHL, and include a hyperlink to a fraudulent website designed to gather sensitive information.
More about the "CONFIRM DELIVERY INFORMATION" scam email
The email appears to be from DHL, a well-known company in the shipping industry, and addresses the recipient as a "customer". It states that a delivery attempt was made to the recipient's address but was unsuccessful. The email then urges the recipient to take action by clicking on a provided link to track the package and confirm the address.
The scammers behind this email are attempting to trick the recipient into divulging personal information by redirecting to a phishing website. The email includes a link (a button labeled "Track your package and confirm address HERE") that opens a fake login page where visitors are asked to enter their email addresses and passwords.
With access to someone's email and password, scammers can take control of their accounts, allowing them to manipulate personal information, send fraudulent emails, or engage in illegal activities while masquerading as the victim. Also, scammers can launch sophisticated phishing campaigns targeting the victim's contacts.
Moreover, stolen login credentials are often used for "credential stuffing" attacks, where scammers attempt to use the same username and password combinations on other platforms. Since people often reuse passwords, successful attacks can provide access to additional accounts, potentially exposing more personal information.
If scammers gain access to accounts associated with financial services, they can initiate unauthorized transactions, drain bank accounts, or make fraudulent purchases, causing significant financial harm to the victims.
| Name | CONFIRM DELIVERY INFORMATION Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Recipients must confirm their address to receive a parcel |
| Disguise | Letter from DHL |
| 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
Such emails often create a sense of urgency or fear to prompt immediate action from the recipient. For instance, they may claim that an account has been compromised or blocked, payment is overdue, or that the recipient must urgently verify certain information. Typically, these emails use deceptive tactics to appear legitimate.
In most cases, phishing emails request sensitive information, such as usernames, passwords, credit card details, or social security numbers. They urge the recipient to click on a link that opens a deceptive website designed to collect this information or prompt them to reply with the requested data.
Examples of phishing emails are "Your Account Will Be Blocked Email Scam", "OneDrive Purchase Order Email Scam", and "Quickbooks Payments Invoice Email Scam". It is important to be aware that emails can also be used to trick recipients into infecting their computers.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Typically, threat actors include malicious files within their emails, including executable files like .exe, scripts such as .js or .vbs, or document files like .doc or .xls. They take advantage of the recipients' curiosity or sense of urgency, enticing them to open these attachments. Once opened, these files trigger the activation of embedded malware.
In addition, malware-distributing emails may feature misleading links that appear legitimate but direct users to harmful websites. By clicking on these links, users inadvertently download malware.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Be wary of opening email attachments, especially if they come from unknown or suspicious sources. Similarly, exercise caution when clicking on links within emails, as they may lead to malicious pages. Regularly update your operating system, software applications, and plugins
Stick to trusted websites and avoid interacting with pop-up ads on dubious sites. Install reputable antivirus or anti-malware software and keep it up to date. Regularly scan your system for potential threats using your installed antivirus software.
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 "CONFIRM DELIVERY INFORMATION" email letter:
Subject: DHL Notification! INV/BL has arrived Track your package at DHL
CONFIRM DELIVERY INFORMATION
- CUSTOMER
We visited your address 4 hours ago but could not locate you.
Kindly click below to track your parcel and confirm address
Track your package and confirm address HERE
DHL Express Excellence.Simply Delivered© DHL 1995-2023 | Global Home | Terms of Use | Security and Privacy
The phishing page promoted via this email:
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Quick menu:
- What is CONFIRM DELIVERY INFORMATION 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 identical messages to thousands of recipients, relying on the hope that someone will be deceived. These spam emails lack personalization and are indiscriminately sent to a wide audience.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
If you have mistakenly provided your login credentials to scammers, immediately change the passwords for the affected accounts. Also, change passwords for other accounts that may be compromised.
I have downloaded and opened an infected file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
If the file you downloaded and opened was executable, it is highly likely that your computer has been infected. However, if it was a document file such as .pdf or .doc, there is a chance that you may have avoided infection. Sometimes, simply opening a document file is insufficient for malware to infiltrate your system.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
If you have only read the email but did not open the attachment, your computer is not infected.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Combo Cleaner can detect (and remove) nearly all known malware. Advanced malware usually hides deep in the operating system to evade detection. Therefore, running a full system scan is a must to eliminate such malware.
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