How to identify phishing scams like "Department For Work And Pension (DWP)"

What is "Department For Work And Pension (DWP)"?

We have reviewed this email and learned that it is a phishing attempt. The intention is to trick unsuspecting recipients into disclosing personal information that scammers could misuse for malicious purposes. Recipients should not respond to such emails to avoid potential consequences.

More about the "Department For Work And Pension (DWP)" scam email

The email claims to be from Sarah Mitchell, who works in the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It informs the recipient about an overdue pension payment of $750,000 and states that the funds have been programmed into an ATM Visa card, which will be sent to the recipient's residential address.

The recipient is asked to provide personal information such as name, country, age, gender, occupation, mobile number, delivery address, and ID card details. Scammers behind this scam email can use such information to commit identity theft, sell the information on the dark web, or use it for other purposes.

It is important to mention that upon replying, scammers might ask for additional details such as social security numbers, bank account information, or other information. They could also request payments for "administration fees", "shipping costs", or "taxes" to process and deliver the supposed pension funds and (or) the Visa card.

Overall, scammers behind this phishing email are likely trying to steal both personal information and money from their victims. Such email should not be trusted (replied) to avoid monetary loss, identity theft or other issues.

Threat Summary:

Name	Department For Work And Pension (DWP) Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	The recipient is a beneficiary to $750,000
Disguise	Letter from the Department for Work and Pension (DWP)
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.

Similar scam emails in general

To sum up, it is important to be careful with unsolicited emails requesting personal information or payments, as these are often attempts by scammers to steal information or money. Recipients are advised to verify the legitimacy of such email before taking any action. It is also important to mention that such emails can contain links or files designed to distribute malware.

Some examples of similar scam emails are "Bitdefender Subscription Renewal", "Independent Committee Of Eminent Persons (ICEP)", and "Authorization To Claim Funds".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Emails designed to deceive users into infecting computers contain malicious attachments or links. Opening these links can direct users to deceptive web pages where malware can be downloaded through user interaction or automatic processes.

Malicious attachments can infect computers upon opening or taking further actions. For example, malicious executables can inject malware immediately upon opening, whereas MS Office documents typically require users to enable macros commands to initiate infection. More examples of files commonly used to deliver malware are malicious PDFs, archive, JavaScript files, and ISO files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Use trustworthy antivirus and anti-malware software, and ensure it is regularly updated. Avoid clicking suspicious links or opening email attachments, especially when emails are unexpected and from unknown addresses. Stick to official websites or app stores for software downloads. Do not trust ads, pop-ups, buttons, etc., on dubious sites.

Additionally, keep your operating system, browsers, and other software up to date. By combining these practices, users can significantly reduce the risk of malware infections. 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 "Department For Work And Pension (DWP)" email letter:

Subject: Pension Fund

Pension Fund
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are contacting you from the  Department for Work and Pension (DWP) regarding an overdue pension payment with your contact information as a legitimate beneficiary to the fund valued sum of $750,000.00 (Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand) Dollars.
 
We wish to inform you that your pension  funds have  been programmed into an ATM visa card and this card will be issued in your name and shall be posted to your residential address via any courier services available in your country. This will enable you to withdraw your pension funds from any ATM machines available in your country with a minimum withdrawal of $5000.00 (Five Thousand Dollars) per day. Your daily limit can be increased upon your request.
 
Please you are required to provide the below information.
 
1. Your Name:
2. Country:
3. Age and Gender:
4. Occupation:
5. Mobile Telephone:
6. Delivery Address:
7. Id Card Identification:
 
We appreciate your hard work and dedication in serving your country.

Yours faithfully,
Sarah Mitchell

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Quick menu:

• What is Department For Work And Pension (DWP) 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?

Scammers often send out mass emails to random or harvested email addresses in hopes of finding unsuspecting individuals who may fall for their scams.

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

If you have provided ID card details to a scammer, contact your local authorities to report the incident. If you have provided your credit card details or passwords, contact your bank or other service provider (depending on the provided details).

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

If the file was an executable, then it likely posed a risk. However, if it was a document (.pdf, .doc, or similar), you might have avoided infection, as opening such documents sometimes does not automatically expose your system to malware.

I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Simply opening an email by itself is completely harmless. However, clicking on links within the email or opening attached files can lead to system infections.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?

Combo Cleaner can detect and remove nearly all known malware infections. It is important to note that advanced malware often hides deep within the system. Therefore, conducting a full system scan is important to ensure removal and protection.

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