Avoid getting scammed by fake "Your Invoice Has Been Paid" emails

What kind of email is "Your Invoice Has Been Paid"?

"Your Invoice Has Been Paid" is a spam email. It promotes a phishing website targeting private information. The scam mail lures recipients into visiting the site by claiming that it is a way to access the payment made to them.

"Your Invoice Has Been Paid" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "#PO-29073EW Payment confirmation" (may vary) is presented as a message concerning an invoice. The recipient is requested to confirm that they have received the 3,174.00 payment (currency unspecified).

It must be emphasized that the information in this email is false, and this mail is not associated with any legitimate entities.

When we examined the "Your Invoice Has Been Paid" email, it redirected to a website that was down. Typically, mail of this endorses phishing sites targeting email account log-in credentials. Note that this issue could be fixed in potential future releases of this spam campaign (i.e., emails will redirect to functional pages).

The site could be disguised as an email sign-in webpage or a confidential document access page that requires verification with email log-in credentials. Phishing websites record provided data and send it to scammers.

Hijacked emails can be variously abused; not only can they contain sensitive/confidential information, but they may also serve as a way to steal the accounts, platforms, and services registered through the mail.

To elaborate on how the unauthorized access may be abused, scammers can steal account owners' identities (e.g., emails, social media/networking, messengers, chats, etc.) and ask the contacts/friends/followers for loans or donations, promote scams, and spread malware by sharing malicious links or files.

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

In summary, by trusting an email like "Your Invoice Has Been Paid" – users can experience serious privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have already entered your account credentials into a phishing website – change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and contact their official support without delay.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Your Invoice Has Been Paid" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient is requested to review the 3,174.00 payment invoice sent to them.
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

We have investigated countless spam campaigns; "Payment For All Pending Invoice(s)", "Website Suspension In Progress", "Unusual Activities In Your Account", and "Someone Used Your Webmail Password" are just a few of our newest articles on phishing emails.

Various scams are promoted through spam mail, and it is used to proliferate malware. Recipients' interest and trust are gained through deception and false claims, e.g., ones relating to payments/invoices, business offers, account issues, expired passwords, financial schemes, philanthropic efforts, inheritances, lotteries, blackmail attempts, and so forth.

Due to how prevalent spam mail is and how well-made it can be – we highly recommend exercising caution with incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

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

Merely opening an infectious file can be enough to initiate the malware download/installation chain. Some formats require additional actions to trigger infection processes. For example, Microsoft Office files need users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents require them to click embedded links or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Incoming emails and other messages must be treated with care. We advise against opening attachments or links found in suspicious mail, as they can be harmful or malicious.

However, malware is not proliferated only through spam mail. Therefore, we recommend being vigilant when browsing since the Internet is rife with deceptive and dangerous content.

Another recommendation is to download only from official and verified sources. All programs must be activated and updated using functions/tools provided by legitimate developers, as illegal product activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updaters can contain malware.

We must stress the importance of having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept updated. Security software must be used to run 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 "Your Invoice Has Been Paid" spam email letter:

Subject: #PO-29073EW Payment confirmation

Dear customer,

Your invoice dated 08/22/2024 for an amount of 3,174.00 has been paid.
Click Open to find our payment receipt for your confirmation

We look forward for delivery proceeds as soon as possible.
Thank you.

Open

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Quick menu:

• What is "Your Invoice Has Been Paid" 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?

Even if a spam email includes relevant information, this message is not personal. Spam mail is sent out in massive operations – therefore, 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. And if you have disclosed other private data (e.g., passport scans, ID card details, 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?

Opening/Reading an email is harmless; 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?

Whether the system was infected might depend on the format of the opened file. Once executed, executables (.exe, .run, etc.) cause infections almost without fail. However, some formats – like documents (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.) – may require additional actions to initiate malware download/installation. Hence, the infection might only proceed after macro commands are enabled, embedded content is clicked, or other actions are performed.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is designed to scan systems and remove all manner of threats. It can detect and eliminate almost all known malware infections. Remember that high-end malicious programs usually hide deep within systems – hence, performing a full system scan is crucial.

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