Avoid getting scammed by fake "UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes" emails

What kind of email is "UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes"?

Upon inspection of the "UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes" email, we determined that it is spam. This bogus missive claims that the recipient has won £350,000 in an Online Sweepstakes.

The email name drops several genuine entities, clearly hoping to create a sense of legitimacy. This spam mail likely aims to deceive recipients into disclosing sensitive information and/or transferring funds to scammers.

"UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "Winning Number: 09-13-15-39-25-(42)!!!" (may vary) greets the recipient as a beneficiary. It congratulates them for winning 350,000 GBP (British pound sterling) in a "2024 New Year e-lottery Online Sweepstakes powered by the Internet".

This announcement is supposedly from the "UKNL Board", which likely refers to the UK's National Lottery. Additionally, the email claims that the randomized winner selection was sponsored by "Camlot". Again, the letter most probably means the Camelot Group, which operates the National Lottery.

The award program was devised for "human capital development" as part of the Millennium Development Goals – a real list of development goals set by the United Nations. The email encourages the recipient to contact the "claims department".

It must be stressed that all this information is false, and it is in no way associated with the named lotteries, companies, organizations, projects, or any other legitimate entities.

The specific goal of this spam letter is not indicated within it. In most cases, mail of this kind either targets private data or money. Hence, the scam victim may be requested to provide their personal information, such as name, age, sex, marital status, occupation, home and work addresses, contact details, etc. This data can be used for a variety of nefarious purposes, including identity theft.

Finance-related information could be targeted as well, e.g., online bank account log-in credentials, banking account details, credit card numbers, etc. Scammers could use these details to facilitate fraudulent transactions or online purchases.

Alternatively, the victim could be asked to transfer funds directly. Cyber criminals prefer difficult-to-trace methods to obtain money, as that decreases the chances of persecution and fund retrieval for victims. To elaborate, scammers most commonly request the money to be sent as cryptocurrency, gift cards, pre-paid vouchers, or cash hidden in innocuous packages and shipped.

To summarize, by trusting an email like "UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes" – users can experience serious privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

If you have already disclosed personally identifiable or finance-related data – contact the appropriate authorities without delay.

Threat Summary:

Name	"UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes" spam email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	The recipient has won £350,000 in an online sweepstakes.
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. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Spam campaigns in general

We have analyzed thousands of spam emails; "Visa Awards", "MINISTÉRIO PUBLICO PORTUGAL", "Microsoft Password System Reminder", "Official Invoice", "New Purchasing Document", "Your iCloud Photos And Videos Will Be Deleted", and "Mailbox Password Security Update" are merely some of our latest finds.

Spam campaigns are used to promote various scams and even to proliferate malware. Deceptive claims that lure recipients into trusting this mail vary, but the end goal of scam mail is the same – to generate revenue at victims' expense.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Cyber criminals commonly use spam campaigns to spread malware. These emails/messages include malicious files as attachments or download links. Virulent files can be documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

Once such a file is opened – the infection chain is jumpstarted. However, some files might need extra actions to begin downloading/installing malware. For example, Microsoft Office documents require users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote files need them to click on embedded content (links/files).

How to avoid installation of malware?

We strongly recommend being careful with incoming emails, DMs/PMs, SMSes, and other messages. Attachments or links present in suspect/irrelevant mail must not be opened, as they can be infectious. Another recommendation is to use post-2010 Microsoft Office versions since their "Protected View" mode prevents automatic macro command execution.

It must be stressed that malware is not proliferated only through spam mail. Hence, we also advise being vigilant when browsing since fake and malicious online content usually appears legitimate and harmless.

Additionally, all downloads must be performed from official and verified channels. It is just as important to activate and update software using genuine functions/tools, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updaters can contain malware.

We must emphasize that having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept updated is paramount to device integrity and user safety. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove threats and issues. 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 "UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes" spam email letter:

Subject: Re: Winning Number: 09-13-15-39-25-(42)!!!

--
Dear Beneficiary,

With pleasure the UKNL Board wishes to notify you that your e-mail has won £350,000.00 in the 2024 New Year e-lottery Online Sweepstakes powered by the Internet.

This is a random computer balloting sponsored by Camlot. The aim of this award programme is for human capital development as a UKNL Millennium Development Goal(UMDG's) Raffle No: 256789 075 Serial No: HCD09/OL, Winning Number: 09-13-15-39-25-(42) To file claims, Contact the Claims department:
-------------------------------------------------
Dr. Jack Parkinson (Reference Officer)
E-mail: redeemprize@outlook.com
-------------------------------------------------
Yours sincerely,
Mrs. Margaret Jones
UKNL Human Capital Development Department

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Quick menu:

• What is "UKNL Board Online Sweepstakes" spam 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?

Spam emails are not personal. They are distributed in large-scale operations – therefore, thousands of users receive identical messages.

I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?

If you have provided personally identifiable or finance-related information (e.g., ID card details, passport scans/photos, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the corresponding authorities. If you've disclosed your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all potentially exposed accounts and inform their official support without delay.

I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Merely opening/reading an email is harmless; systems are compromised when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.

I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?

Whether your device was infected may depend on the format of the opened file. If it was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes – the system was compromised. However, you might have avoided this if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may need additional user interaction to jumpstart malware download/installation chains (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded content, etc.).

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. Note that since high-end malicious programs usually hide deep within systems – performing a full system scan is crucial.

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