Avoid having your email account stolen via fake "INCOMING FAX" emails

What kind of email is "INCOMING FAX"?

Upon inspection of the "INCOMING FAX" email, we learned that it is spam. The bogus letter is presented as a notification regarding faxed documents. This spam mail aims to obtain recipients' email account log-in credentials (passwords) through a phishing website.

"INCOMING FAX" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "FAX Swift-Copy#Ref-MT103-Payment [redacted]" notifies the recipient of an incoming fax. The letter lists details of the sent documents, which include the words "Swift" and "payment" – this likely refers to the SWIFT banking cooperative that provides financial transaction and payment services between limited banks worldwide. Spam commonly utilizes such details to create an impression of legitimacy, importance, or urgency.

It must be emphasized that all the information provided by "INCOMING FAX" is false, and this mail is not associated with any legitimate service providers or other entities.

This letter promotes a phishing website disguised as an email account sign-in page. Log-in credentials (i.e., passwords) entered into this webpage will be recorded and sent to scammers. This data can be used to steal the exposed emails. They are typically utilized to register other accounts and platforms – hence, this linked content may be hijacked as well.

To expand some on the potential misuse, cyber criminals can steal the identities of account owners (e.g., emails, social networking, social media, messengers, chats, etc.) and ask the contacts/friends/followers for loans or donations, endorse scams, and spread malware by sharing malicious files/links.

Furthermore, compromising/confidential content discovered on data storage or similar platforms could be used for blackmail or other nefarious purposes. What is more, finance-related accounts (e.g., online banking, money transferring, e-commerce, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to facilitate fraudulent transactions and online purchases.

To summarize, victims of spam mail like "INCOMING FAX" can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

If you have provided your log-in credentials to a phishing site – immediately change the passwords of or possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support.

Threat Summary:

Name	"INCOMING FAX" phishing emails
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient has an incoming fax relating to a payment.
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.

Phishing spam campaign examples

"American Express - Disputed Payment Received", "DHL Lottery", "Remittance Slip", "Donation To Charity Home", "Incoming Mails Suspended", and "Webmail Verification" are just some examples of phishing emails.

Various scams are promoted by spam mail, and it is also used to distribute malware. While the commonly held belief that these emails are riddled with spelling and grammatical errors is not untrue, it is not without exception. Spam emails can be competently made and even believably disguised as messages from genuine service providers, companies, organizations, authorities, and other entities.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Cyber criminals commonly use spam campaigns to proliferate malware. These emails/messages can have malicious files attached to or linked inside them. The files can be documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, and so forth.

Once opened, an infectious file begins downloading/installing malware. However, some formats may require additional actions to jumpstart infection processes. For example, Microsoft Office files need users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents require them to click on embedded links or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

It is essential to treat incoming emails and other messages with caution. We advise against opening attachments or links present in suspicious/irrelevant mail, as they can be infectious. It is important to use post-2010 Microsoft Office versions since their "Protected View" mode prevents automatic macro execution.

However, malware is not proliferated exclusively through spam mail. Therefore, we also advise vigilance when browsing, as fraudulent and malicious online content usually appears legitimate and innocuous.

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

We must stress the importance of having a dependable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date. Security software must be used to perform regular system scans and to remove detected threats/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 "INCOMING FAX" spam email letter:

Subject: FAX Swift-Copy#Ref-MT103-Payment -

INCOMING FAX

YOU HAVE A NEW INCOMING FAX DOCUMENT

Delivery Notification Information :

Message #: 66972012848
Remote Drive: [DOWNLOAD- ATTACHMENT-SWIFT-MT103]
REMOTE CSID: (669-818-8669)
Received:05, 03,2024
Length Page:2
Transmit Time: 07:20

FAX STATUS CODE: SUCCESSFUL DELIVERY

Screenshot of the phishing website promoted by the "INCOMING FAX" spam campaign:

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Quick menu:

• What is "INCOMING FAX" phishing emails?
• 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, regardless of any relevant details they may include. Cyber criminals distribute these letters in massive operations – hence, thousands of users receive identical emails.

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

If you have disclosed your account credentials – change the passwords of all potentially exposed accounts and inform their official support without delay. However, if the information was of a different personal nature (e.g., ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the corresponding authorities.

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

Merely opening/reading an email poses no infection threat. Devices 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?

If the opened file was an executable (.exe, run, etc.) – most likely, yes – since these files cause infections almost without fail. However, you might have avoided this if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may require extra actions (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded files/links, etc.) to trigger malware download/installation chains.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate nearly all known malware infections. It must be mentioned that since sophisticated malicious software typically hides deep within systems – performing a full system scan is crucial.

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