How to identify scams like "Join Our Great Illuminati"

What is "Join Our Great Illuminati"?

We have analyzed this email and concluded that it is a scam. It is designed to trick recipients into believing they have been offered to join the Illuminati. Typically, scammers behind such schemes aim to deceive unsuspecting individuals into providing personal details and (or) transferring money.

More about the "Join Our Great Illuminati" scam email

This scam email falsely invites the recipient to join the "Illuminati" and promises them wealth, fame, and protection. It claims that membership will instantly make them rich and successful in their chosen field, whether in business, politics, or entertainment.

The scam email offers an initial reward (€1,500,000.00) and monthly payments (€20,000.00) for recruiting others. It emphasizes financial gain and spiritual security and instructs interested individuals to email illuminatiempire601@gmail.com for further instructions.

Usually, scammers use such emails to extract names, surnames, addresses, and even more sensitive information like credit card details, social security numbers, ID card information, etc. Also, they may try to deceive recipients into believing they have to pay some "fees" or for services to achieve a certain goal (e.g., to activate a membership).

Thus, it is highly advisable not to respond to such emails to avoid monetary loss, identity theft, or other negative consequences.

Threat Summary:

Name	Join Our Great Illuminati Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	The recipient has an opportunity to joing the Illuminati
Disguise	Letter from Thomas Edison
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

These scam emails often promise unrealistic and immediate benefits in exchange for personal information or money. They use persuasive language and false claims. It is important to be skeptical when receiving such emails, avoid responding to them, and always verify the legitimacy of any offers.

Examples of similar scams are "Luciano Pavarotti Testament", "Fraud Victim", and "EUROMILLONES LOTERIA INTERNATIONAL". It is important to mention that fraudulent emails can be (and often are) crafted to trick recipients into infecting their computers.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

When cybercriminals aim to deploy malware via email, they send malicious files or links. Malware can infiltrate systems when users execute it by opening malicious executables, enabling macros in infected MS Office documents, or taking other actions. Links in fraudulent emails can lead to websites designed to trick visitors into initiating malicious downloads.

Also, web pages opened via deceptive emails can be created to automatically download malware on computers. More examples of file types used to distribute malware are PDFs, archives, ISO files, and JavaScript files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Always keep your operating system, software, and antivirus programs up to date. Be cautious when opening attachments or clicking links, especially in unexpected emails from unknown or suspicious sources. Download software and files only from trusted websites and avoid using pirated or cracked versions of programs.

Do not trust advertisements, pop-ups, and similar content on unofficial websites. 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 "Join Our Great Illuminati" email letter:

Subject: BENEFITS OF BEING ILLUMINATI

Hello I greatly recommend you Via our ongoing Invitation to join our Great Illuminati and become Rich and Famous.

Bringing the poor, the needy, and the talented to the limelight of fame and riches. Get money, fame, power, and security. Get recognised in business or politics, musician, student, footballer, salary earner or retirement pensioner. Do you want to be rich whatever occupation you do and be protected spiritually and physically! All these you will achieve in a twinkle of an eye when you get initiated into the Illuminati brotherhood. Once you are initiated into the Illuminati brotherhood you will have numerous benefits. Do you wanna join?  If YES!.  Then you can achieve your dreams by being a member of the great illuminati empire, Once you are a  member all your dreams and heart desires can be fully accomplished.

This organization of the Rich and Famous; the world oldest and largest fraternity. We are one Family under one father who is the Supreme Being. In Illuminati we believe that we were born in paradise and no member should struggle in this world. Hence all our new members are given Money Rewards once they join in order to upgrade their lifestyle.; interested viewers should get instant initiated to the Illuminati Brotherhood and get membership profit € 1,500,000.00 to start a profitable business.

Join us today and get a membership profit to start a profitable business and earn a € 20,000.00 monthly reward for Inviting new customers to the Great Illuminati brotherhood. Please note, Kindly make sure all your responses are sent directly to the Illuminati secret Authorities email: illuminatiempire601@gmail.com  For more instructions on our membership process.

Regards

Mr.Thomas Edison

Another example of a scam email offering recipients to join Illuminati:

Text presented within:

Subject: GRAND ELITE INVITATION

 

Greetings,
from the ILLUMINATI world elite empire. Are you a business Man/woman, politician, musician, student, footballer, salary earner and you want to be rich, need protection, gain knowledge, be powerful and be famous in life. Here is your opportunity….
You have been chosen by the Great Brotherhood of Illuminati to be a member of this family; you have found favor in the sight of the Grand Creator and hence this noble invitation to be a member of the Elite Family.
NOTE: Being a full member of the Great Illuminati Family will grant you an allowance of $ 300,000 USD every two weeks continually; given a 4 bedroom mansion and also a car of your desired choice. These are many more benefits that is your right as a member of the Illuminati Family. Reply YES IF INTERESTED

Yet another example of an email from "Join Our Great Illuminati" spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: GOOD NEWS

 

Hello, brother/sister, I'm  Alex Morgan... I'm a member of the great Illuminati.. Do you want to join the Illuminati and become rich and famous in life..??

reply to my email (0938746785857jd@gmail.com)

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 Join Our Great Illuminati scam 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?

Scammers send their messages to a all addresses they have without any specific targeting. Essentially, these emails are generic and not personalized.

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

If you have sent credit card or ID details, social security numbers, or similar information, contact the relevant authorities. If scammers have obtained your passwords, change your passwords immediately (contact the service providers if you cannot access some of the accounts).

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

If you have downloaded and opened a malicious file, there is a strong possibility that your computer may be infected. It depends on the type of the file. Malicious executables usually infect computers right upon opening. Other files may require additional interaction.

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

Simply opening an email is usually safe and does not pose a risk. The real danger lies in clicking on links or opening attachments in suspicious emails.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner detects and removes most known malware. However, advanced malware can hide deep within your system, so running a full system scan is necessary to completely eliminate such threats.

▼ Show Discussion