Avoid losing you account via fake "Hilton Group Quotation Request" emails

What kind of email is "Hilton Group Quotation Request"?

After inspecting the "Hilton Group Quotation Request" email, we determined that it is spam. This message is presented as a repeated request for quotation.

It must be stressed that this email is not associated with the actual Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. This scam mail aims to lure recipients into entering their email account log-in credentials into a phishing site.

"Hilton Group Quotation Request" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "Re: Request For Quotation" (may vary) implies previous communication with the recipient. The sender identifies themselves as the general manager of the Malta branch of Hilton. It queries whether the email sent on the specified data was received.

If the message had failed to reach the recipient, they are informed that the request for quotation was sent again via WeTransfer. The document details company requirements and the purchase order.

As mentioned in the introduction, the information in this email is false. It must be emphasized that this mail is in no way associated with Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

This scam email promotes a phishing site disguised as the WeTransfer online file-transferring service page. The website requests to sign in using email log-in credentials to access the sent files. Information entered into phishing sites is recorded and sent to scammers.

Emails are of particular interest to cyber criminals since they tend to include sensitive information, which can be especially true of work accounts.

Furthermore, hijacking such an email may open an avenue for criminals to infect the corporate network with trojans, ransomware, and other malware. What is more, access might be gained to the accounts, platforms, and services registered through the stolen email.

To expand upon how the unauthorized access might be abused, scammers can steal the identities of account owners (e.g., emails, social networking, social media, messengers, etc.) and ask the contacts/friends/followers for loans or donations, promote scams, and proliferate malware by sharing malicious files or links.

Stolen finance-related accounts (e.g., online banking, money transferring, e-commerce, digital wallets, etc.) can be used to make fraudulent transactions and online purchases.

To summarize, by trusting an email like "Hilton Group Quotation Request" – users can experience system infections, serious privacy issues, financial losses, and even identity theft.

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

Threat Summary:

Name	"Hilton Group Quotation Request" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	RFQ for a potential purchase order.
Disguise	Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.
Related Domains	wetrasfa.pages[.]dev
Detection Names (wetrasfa.pages[.]dev)	Trustwave (Suspicious), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Serving IP Address (wetrasfa.pages[.]dev)	172.66.44.123
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

"Outlook Password Has Expired", "OpenSea Mystery Boxes", "Department Of Employment & Labour", and "We Cannot Process Payment" are merely a few of our newest articles on phishing emails.

Aside from log-in credentials, these letters commonly target personally identifiable information and finance-related data. In addition to promoting various scams, spam mail is also used to distribute malware.

While the widely held belief that these emails are poorly written and rife with grammatical/spelling errors is not untrue, it is not always the case. This mail can be competently crafted and even believably disguised as messages from legitimate entities (e.g., companies, organizations, service providers, authorities, etc.).

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns spread malware by distributing malicious files. They can be attached to or linked inside the emails/messages. These files come in various formats, e.g., documents (PDF, Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

Once an infectious file is opened – the malware download/installation process is initiated. Some formats need additional user interaction to initiate system infection chains. 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?

We strongly recommend exercising caution with incoming emails and other messages. Attachments or links found in suspicious/irrelevant mail must not be opened, as they can be harmful or infectious.

It must be mentioned that malware is not spread exclusively through spam mail. Therefore, we advise vigilance when browsing since fraudulent and malicious online content typically appears legitimate and innocuous.

Additionally, all downloads must be made from official and trustworthy sources. Another recommendation is to activate and update programs using functions/tools provided by genuine developers, as those acquired from third-parties may contain malware.

It is paramount to have a dependable anti-virus installed and kept updated. This software must be used to run 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 "Hilton Group Quotation Request" spam email letter:

Subject: Re: Request For Quotation

Good day,

Hope this email finds you well.

I am the GM of Hilton Group Malta, Could you kindly inform us if the email from our procurment manager about our request for quotation dated Aug.12.2024 was well received? If not find below again summarized details about our company requirments as well as purchase order for your perusal via wetransfer.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards
Dave

David Kurts
General manager
T: +331322285851
D: +331732600205
E: importfrance@hilton.com
Link to UVISON Technologies LinkedIn page
Level 7 Fgura Business Center 6 Triq Hompesch Malta

Screenshot of the fake WeTransfer website promoted by this spam campaign:

Instant automatic malware removal: Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ DOWNLOAD Combo Cleaner By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. 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.

Quick menu:

• What is "Hilton Group Quotation Request" 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, regardless of any relevant information that they may include. Cyber criminals distribute this mail in large-scale campaigns with the hopes that at least some recipients will fall for their scams.

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

If you have disclosed your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support without delay. However, if you have provided your personally identifiable or finance-related information to scammers (e.g., passport photos/scans, ID card details, credit/debit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the appropriate authorities.

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

No, opening/reading an email will not initiate malware download/installation chains. 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?

If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes – the system was infected. However, you might have avoided this if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may need additional actions to initiate malware download/installation (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking embedded links/files, etc.).

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and remove practically all known malware infections. Remember that high-end malicious software usually hides deep within systems – therefore, performing a complete system scan is crucial for detection.

▼ Show Discussion