Avoid getting scammed by fake "Department Of Employment & Labour" emails
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What kind of email is "Department Of Employment & Labour"?
After inspecting this "Department Of Employment & Labour" email, we determined that it is fake. This spam letter is presented as an ITT (Invitation To Tender), wherein recipients are called to bid on provisioning a project.
The purpose of this phishing email is to deceive victims into disclosing sensitive information. However, once contacted, the scammers can make other requests – such as sending them money.
"Department Of Employment & Labour" email scam overview
The spam email with the subject "Appointment of a Service Provider to Supply and Deliver" (may vary) is presented as an Invitation To Tender (ITT).
It invites the recipient to bid on supplying a project held by South Africa's Department of Employment and Labour. The letter indicates that the ITT is an "open request" – hence, it is unnecessary for the recipient to specify in the product, as they can procure it from other suppliers.
It must be stressed that the information provided in this email is false, and this mail is not associated with the actual Department of Employment and Labour.
The fake ITT is detailed in the attachment titled "RM30JE H2 FIRE DETECTOR ALARM BID DOCUMENT.pdf" (filename may vary). This document indicates that the requested products are 630 units of fire detector alarms.
Potential suppliers are asked to provide their full names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, company names, and registration numbers. As the file mentions that bidders must have a valid ID, it is likely that the scammers will request to be sent a scan/photo of an ID card or passport.
Personally identifiable information can be used for a variety of nefarious purposes, including to steal victims' identities. It is noteworthy that cyber criminals may make other requests, such as payment for legitimate-sounding reasons.
To summarize, by trusting an email like "Department Of Employment & Labour" – users can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.
If you have already disclosed your personally identifiable or finance-related information – contact the appropriate authorities without delay.
| Name | "Department Of Employment & Labour" phishing email |
| Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
| Fake Claim | Recipient is invited to bid on a project. |
| Disguise | Department of Employment and Labour of South Africa |
| Attachment(s) | RM30JE H2 FIRE DETECTOR ALARM BID DOCUMENT.pdf (filename may vary) |
| 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. |
Phishing spam campaign examples
We have investigated countless spam emails; "We Cannot Process Payment", "IMAP/POP3 TIME-OUT", and "Yahoo Canada Lottery" are just a couple examples of phishing campaigns.
This mail primarily targets personally identifiable information, log-in credentials (usernames/passwords), and finance-related data. However, other scams are also facilitated through these emails. Additionally, they are used to distribute malware.
While the commonly held belief that spam emails are full of grammatical/spelling errors is not untrue, it is not always the case. This mail can be competently made and even convincingly disguised as messages from legitimate entities (e.g., authorities, institutions, organizations, service providers, companies, etc.).
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Spam campaigns proliferate malware by distributing malicious files. They can be attached to or linked inside the emails/messages. Virulent files can be executables (.exe, .run, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.
Once such a file is opened – the infection chain is jumpstarted. However, some formats need extra actions to initiate malware download/installation. For example, Microsoft Office files require users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents need them to click on embedded links or files.
How to avoid installation of malware?
It is important to approach incoming emails and other messages with caution. We advise against opening attachments or links found in suspect/irrelevant mail, as they can be virulent.
However, malware is spread using various methods. Therefore, we also recommend being careful while browsing, as the Internet is rife with deceptive and malicious content.
Another recommendation is to download only from official and verified channels. Additionally, all programs must be activated and updated using legitimate functions/tools, as those acquired from third-parties can contain malware.
We must emphasize that having a dependable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date is essential to device/user safety. Security software must be used to run regular system scans and to remove detected 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 "Department Of Employment & Labour" spam email letter:
Subject: Appointment of a Service Provider to Supply and Deliver
Good Day Sir/Madam,
Department of Employment & Labour hereby invites all interested service providers / suppliers to submit your quotation for supply and delivery of the product on the request for quotation attached.
Note:
Kindly be advised that this is an open request for quotation which doesn't require you as a service provider to be in scope/expertise of the product requested. Rather you can find a supplier for the specific product requested and provide us with a quotation of your company pricing.
Please reply to us with your quotation if you are interested in this project as soon as possible as it's urgent.
ENQUIRIES:
Contact Person: Constance Vilakazi
Email: constance.vilakazi@labour-tendersgov.org
Telephone number: +27 (012) 516 0734
Address: Laboria House, 215 Francis Baard Street, Private Bag X 117, Pretoria, 0001.
Appearance of the file attached to this email ("RM30JE H2 FIRE DETECTOR ALARM BID DOCUMENT.pdf") GIF:
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Quick menu:
- What is "Department Of Employment & Labour" phishing 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, even if they include details relevant to the recipients. Any such information is typically obtained from publicly available sources or through phishing scams. This mail is sent out in large-scale campaigns – hence, thousands of users receive identical or incredibly similar emails.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this spam email, what should I do?
If you have provided your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all possibly exposed accounts and inform their official support without delay. And if you've disclosed other private information (e.g., ID card details, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact relevant authorities.
I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Merely reading an email is harmless; devices are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.
I have downloaded and opened a file attached to a spam email, is my computer infected?
The format of the malicious file may influence infection success rates. Once opened, executables (.exe, .run, etc.) cause infections almost without fail. While some other formats – like documents (.doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.) – may require additional actions (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded content, etc.) to begin malware download/installation.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?
Combo Cleaner is designed to scan computers and remove all kinds of threats. It can detect and eliminate practically all known malware infections. Keep in mind that high-end malicious software tends to hide deep within systems – therefore, performing a full system scan is essential.
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