How to spot fraudulent emails like the fake "Glacier Bank" email
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What is "Glacier Bank" email scam?
After a comprehensive examination, it is evident that the email in question is a deceptive communication crafted by scammers. They intend to deceive recipients into accessing a counterfeit website and divulging personal information. Such deceptive emails fall under the category of phishing attempts.
More about the "Glacier Bank" scam email
The phishing email has a subject line suggesting a new security message from Glacier bank, addressing the recipient as a "Valued Customer". The message is brief, emphasizing the importance of an alleged notice from the bank and prompting the recipient to click on a provided link. The email concludes with a statement asserting its automated nature and includes a copyright claim to Glacier Bank for the year 2023.
It employs common phishing tactics, such as urgency, generic language, and a call-to-action link, aiming to trick recipients into revealing personal information on a fraudulent website. Clicking the link in this scam email opens a fake page disguised as a Glacier Bank sign-in page.
The purpose of this site is to lure individuals into providing their online banking ID and password. Scammers can exploit this sensitive information for various malicious purposes. For instance, they can gain unauthorized access to the victim's account. This may lead to financial fraud, unauthorized transactions, and potential identity theft.
The stolen credentials could also be sold on the dark web, used for phishing attacks, or mined for additional personal information, posing a significant risk to the victim's financial and online security.
| Name | Glacier Bank Email Scam |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Recipients have an important notice from the Glacier bank |
| Disguise | Letter from Glacier bank |
| 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
Phishing emails typically share common characteristics such as a sense of urgency, generic addressing (lacking personalized information), requests for immediate action through clicking on links, and the creation of fake scenarios to trick recipients into divulging sensitive information. They often imitate trusted entities, like banks, using official logos and language to appear legitimate.
These emails rely on psychological tactics to manipulate individuals into providing confidential information, leading to potential identity theft, financial fraud, or unauthorized account access. Vigilance and skepticism are crucial in identifying and avoiding such phishing attempts.
Examples of similar emails are "Apple Security Releases", "Security Info Was Added", and "DHL - Outstanding Payment". Emails of this kind can also be used to lure recipients into infecting their computers.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Email-based attacks can compromise computer security when users unknowingly engage with malicious links or file attachments. Clicking on such links can expose users to websites hosting malware or initiating harmful drive-by downloads.
Malicious files concealed within emails often disguise themselves as innocuous documents, like invoices or shipping notifications, which may include deceptive attachments such as MS Office or PDF documents, JavaScript files, or executables. Upon opening these attachments, users unwittingly activate malware execution on their systems.
It is important to note that merely opening files may not always result in computer infections. Additional actions, like enabling macros commands within documents, are required for malware infiltration.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Exercise caution when receiving irrelevant emails, especially those from unknown or questionable sources. Avoid clicking links or downloading attachments that seem suspicious. Keep the operating system and installed software updated through regular installations of updates.
Utilize trustworthy security software and refrain from downloading pirated or unofficial tools meant to bypass activation. When acquiring apps and files, choose official sites and stores for credibility and security. Minimize the risk of encountering potential threats by avoiding interaction with ads, pop-ups, and links on dubious websites.
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 "Glacier Bank email scam" email letter:
Subject: (1) New security message from:Glacier Bank
Our Valued Customer,
You Have an Important Notice From Glacier Bank
Click ON -
As this e-mail is an automated message,
Copyright 2023 Glacier Bank.
The phishing page presented in this scam email:
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Quick menu:
- What is Glacier Bank phishing campaign?
- 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?
Criminals distribute identical letters to thousands of recipients, hoping that at least one person will be deceived. These spam emails lack personal details (they are not targeted at specific individuals).
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
If you have provided account credentials, it is crucial to change all passwords and do so as soon as possible. In the event of disclosing additional personal information, such as credit card details or ID card information, it is advisable to contact the relevant authorities (in this case, your bank) as soon as possible.
I have downloaded and opened a file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
The probability of your computer getting infected is contingent on the type of file you download and open. Executable files pose a higher risk of infection, whereas document files such as .pdf or .doc may have a lower risk, as these formats typically necessitate additional actions to execute malicious code.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Simply opening an email does not pose any threat. Computer infections can only occur when files or links within the email are opened.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Combo Cleaner has the capability to find and eliminate a broad range of known malware infections. Advanced forms of malware can embed themselves deeply within the system. Consequently, conducting a full system scan is essential to ensure detection and removal.
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