Avoid infecting your device through fake "Confirm Hotel Bank Account" emails

What kind of email is "Confirm Hotel Bank Account"?

Upon examination, we determined that the "Confirm Hotel Bank Account" email is malspam. This letter requests the recipient to review the attached receipt to confirm that the correct bank account is indicated in the payment. However, the attachment is intended to infect devices with the XLoader malware.

"Confirm Hotel Bank Account" email virus overview

The spam email with the subject "Dear Hotel Reservation Department" (may vary) states that the sender has booked their guest with the recipient. The payment has already been made, and the recipient is asked to review it and verify whether the banking account details are correct.

It must be stressed that this email is fake, and it is not associated with PT Mitra Global Holiday or any other legitimate entities.

The executable within the attached archive – "Receipt.rar" (filename may vary) – installs XLoader upon execution. This malware is designed to steal sensitive information from infected devices.

In summary, victims of scam mail like "Confirm Hotel Bank Account" can experience system infections, severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft. If your computer is already infected with XLoader (or other malware) – use an anti-virus to eliminate it without delay.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Confirm Hotel Bank Account" malspam
Threat Type	Malspam, malicious spam, trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Fake Claim	Recipient is requested to review the attached hotel booking payment to verify the accuracy of the information therein.
Disguise	PT Mitra Global Holiday
Attachment(s)	Receipt.rar (filename may vary)
Detection Names	Avast (Win32:TrojanX-gen [Trj]), Combo Cleaner (Trojan.GenericKD.71775860), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of MSIL/Kryptik.ALAB), Kaspersky (HEUR:Trojan-PSW.MSIL.Agensla.gen), Malwarebytes (Trojan.MalPack.PNG.Generic), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Payload	XLoader
Symptoms	Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate the victim's computer and remain silent, and thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine.
Distribution methods	Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software 'cracks'.
Damage	Stolen passwords and banking information, identity theft, the victim's computer added to a botnet.
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.

Malspam campaign examples

"Rooming List For The Group", "Order List", "Missing Invoice", and "MINISTÉRIO PUBLICO PORTUGAL email virus" are merely a few examples of malspam campaigns we have written about recently.

Deceptive emails spread all kinds of malware – trojans, ransomware, cryptocurrency miners, and so on. Spam letters are also used to promote phishing and other scams.

While these emails are infamous for being full of grammatical and spelling errors, they may also be competently made and even disguised as messages from genuine companies, organizations, institutions, service providers, authorities, and other entities.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam emails proliferate malware by distributing malicious files. They can be attached to or linked inside the messages. Infectious files can be archives (RAR, ZIP, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), JavaScript, and so forth.

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

How to avoid installation of malware?

It is essential to treat incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages with caution. We advise against opening attachments or links present in suspect mail, as they can be virulent. We recommend using Microsoft Office versions released after 2010 since they have the "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic macro execution.

It must be stressed that malware is not spread exclusively via spam mail. Therefore, we also advise being careful while browsing since fraudulent and malicious online content usually appears legitimate and harmless.

Additionally, all downloads must be made from official and verified channels. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using functions/tools provided by genuine developers, as illegal activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updates may contain malware.

We must emphasize that having a dependable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date is paramount to device and user safety. Security programs must be used to perform regular system scans and to remove detected threats. 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 Hotel Bank Account" spam email letter:

Subject: Dear Hotel Reservation Department

Dear Hotel Reservation Department,

We have booked our guest with you and payment has been made, kindly confirm the attached bellew to make sure payment is not made to the wrong bank account.

Thank you
MG (PT Mitra Global Holiday)

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Quick menu:

• What is "Confirm Hotel Bank Account" malspam?
• 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. These letters are distributed in large-scale campaigns – hence, thousands of users receive identical ones.

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

Reading an email poses no infection threat. Malware download/installation processes are triggered when a malicious attachment or link is opened/clicked.

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

Whether your device was infected might 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 an infection if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may require extra actions (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded content, etc.) to begin downloading/installing malware.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is designed to scan computers and eliminate all manner of threats. It can remove practically all known malware infections. Note that performing a complete system scan is crucial since sophisticated malicious software typically hides deep within systems.

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