How to identify fraudulent emails like "Fund Donation"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is "Fund Donation"?
Upon examining this email, we concluded that it is a scam email written by scammers who aim to trick recipients into transferring money (or providing information). This particular email falls into the category of advance-fee scams. These scams typically involve fraudsters claiming that you are entitled to a substantial inheritance or unclaimed funds.
More about the "Fund Donation" scam email
The email claims to be from Mr. Eduardo Guadalupe, the personal lawyer of the deceased Mr. Jorge Antonio. It states that Mr. Antonio, who allegedly died in a fatal accident on April 15, 2022, had no heirs. The email asserts that before his death, Mr. Antonio made a will directing his USD 10.5 million estate to be donated to individuals, charities, orphanages, or businesspersons for investment purposes.
The scammer then issue a call to action, urging the recipient to express interest by replying to the email. To add an air of legitimacy, the sender offers to provide information about the bank responsible for transferring the funds.
The ultimate goal of this scam is to lure recipients into responding, at which point they may be asked to share sensitive personal details (like credit card details) or make payments to cover supposed fees related to the inheritance transfer. Therefore, individuals must exercise caution and refrain from engaging with such emails.
| Name | Fund Donation Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | The recipient is eligible to receive a significant sum of money |
| Disguise | Letter from the attorney of a deceased person |
| 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
In conclusion, emails promising unexpected financial gains, inheritances, or donations should be approached with extreme caution, as they often serve as vehicles for advance-fee scams or phishing attempts.
Recognizing common elements such as unsolicited communication, emotional manipulation, requests for personal information, and the absence of verifiable details is crucial in identifying fraudulent intent.
Examples of similar scams are "Donations For Gaza Strip", "INTERNATIONALE SPANISCHE ONLINE-LOTTERIE", and "Moving Funds Out Of Niger Email Scam". It is important to know that emails sent by cybercriminals can be used to deliver malware.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Users can inadvertently cause computer infections via email through actions such as clicking malicious links or downloading (and opening) infected attachments. Clicking on links within these emails may lead to malicious websites designed to exploit vulnerabilities in the user's browser or download malware onto their system.
Similarly, downloading seemingly harmless attachments can introduce malware onto the user's computer. Typically, cybercriminals employ executables, documents, ISO files, and archives to trick users into infecting computers.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Exercise caution with unsolicited emails, especially those with attachments or links. Avoid interacting with the contents of suspicious emails. Install reputable antivirus and anti-malware software on your computer and keep it up to date. Regularly scan your system for potential threats.
Also, regularly update your operating system, web browsers, and other applications. Do not trust advertisements, pop-ups, and links on suspicious websites. Do not download pirated software or unofficial tools that are supposed to activate legitimate software.
If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "Fund Donation" email letter:
Subject: FUND DONATION ..14
ATTENTION SIR/MADAM,
FUND DONATION
I am the personal lawyer to late Mr. Jorge Antonio who died on the 15th of April, 2022 by fatal accident.
He has no Son none Daughter to inherited his wealth after he will passed away.
Before he died, he made a WILL that all his property/estate value $10.5m USD should be donated to individual or charity or charity organization or to the orphanage or orphanage home or to any business man or woman for investment purpose.He finally died on the 15th of April, 2022.
As a personal attorney to my late client, I am contacting you for the same proposed (WILL) made by my late client Mr. Jorge Antonio.Please NOTE:
If you are interested, kindly reply back to this message so that I can give you the information of the bank that will transfer the fund to your bank account.
Thanks you.
Mr. Eduardo Guadalupe.
Solicitor and Legal Practitioner.
Another example of an email from "Fund Donation" spam campaign:
Text presented within:
Subject: FUND DONATION
ATTENTION SIR/MADAM,
FUND DONATION
Good day and compliments of the season, I am sincerely sorry for reaching through this method, my name is Eduardo Guadalupe Esq, I am the personal lawyer to the late Mr. Jorge Antonio who died on the 15th of April, 2022 by fatal accident.
He has no Son no Daughter or wife to inherit his estate (wealth) but before he died, he made a WILL that all his property/estate value $10.5m USD should be donated to the less privileged individual or charity organization or to the orphanage homes or to any business man or woman for investment purposes.
He died on the 15th of April, 2022.
As a personal attorney to my late client, I am contacting you for the same proposed (WILL) made by my late client Mr. Jorge Antonio to stand in as the next of kin to claim his estate after which we will share the properties according to agreement.
Please NOTE:
If you are interested, kindly reply back to this message so that I can give you the information of the bank that will transfer the funds to your bank account.
Thank you.
Mr. Eduardo Guadalupe.
Solicitor and Legal Practitioner.
Another example of an email from "Fund Donation" spam campaign:
Text presented within:
Subject: Re: 80 M i l l i o n US D o l l a r s Inheritance For You..
Reply-To: Ms. Joan R. Gates
Email: joangates66752@hotmail.comGreetings to you.
I am Ms. Joan Robert Gates, a philantropist to motherless children and orphanage homes. I got your email address from an email directory as the right person to contact regarding this matter. I am a 4th stage cancer of the lungs patient and widow, since my doctor said i have a very short time to live, i am now donating the funds of my late husband and I to any good charity homes and orphanages of your choice and the funds will go directly to you as the beneficiary. The funds amount is $80,000,000 (80 million US Dollars and is deposited in a bank which i will reveal to you later in your next reply to me. You should send your details to me so I can issue the immediate authorization letter to the bank where the funds is deposited to release the funds to you as I might be gone very soon.Once again the following details is needed for full authorization by me.
Your Full Name:
Your City & Country:
Your Age:Male/Female
I await your urgent reply.
Best Regards,
Ms. Joan R. Gates
Email: joangates66752@hotmail.com
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Quick menu:
- What is Fund Donation advance-fee scam?
- 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?
Receiving a scam email can result from various factors, but it frequently stems from broad and non-selective efforts by cybercriminals. These individuals employ automated tools to create and dispatch emails to a wide audience, aiming to reach as many potential targets as possible.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
If you have unwittingly provided personal information in response to an advanced-fee scam email, stop any further communication with the scammer. Also, report the incident to your local law enforcement and bank (if the provided information includes credit card details).
I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
Absolutely, if the file was an executable, then the risk of infection is significant. However, in the case of a document file (.pdf, .doc, or the like), there is a possibility that you may have sidestepped the infection, as simply accessing the document might not be adequate for malware to compromise the system.
I have sent cryptocurrency to the address presented in such email, can I get my money back?
Unfortunately, retrieving cryptocurrency sent to scammers is extremely challenging. Cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible by design, and once the funds have been transferred, they are typically beyond recovery.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Simply opening an email poses no threat. The risk of system infections occurs when one clicks on links embedded in the email or opens attached files.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Combo Cleaner has the ability to identify and eradicate almost all known malware. It is necessary to note that sophisticated malware often conceals itself deeply within the system. Thus, a full system scan should be performed to eliminate malware of this kind.
Outstanding!
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