How to identify fake emails like "Unclaimed Insurance"

What is "Unclaimed Insurance"?

We have examined this email and found that it is crafted to trick recipients into believing they can receive a large sum of money for cooperation. Schemes like this one are known as inheritance scams. Typically, fraudsters behind them try to extract money and (or) personal information from unsuspecting individuals.

More about the "Unclaimed Insurance" scam email

This scam email is a fake letter from Dr. Landolt Martin, supposedly a lawyer at DAI-ICHI Life Holdings, a representative of a large Japanese insurance company. The sender claims that there is an unclaimed insurance policy worth $55 million and that attempts to find the legitimate next of kin have failed.

The sender also states that the funds will be reverted to the government if not claimed. The scammer suggests naming the recipient as the next of kin and proposes splitting the fund 45% for each party, with 10% for administrative costs.

Additionally, the mail includes a bogus story about the policyholder (supposedly a person named Roger Ian Wright), who died in a plane crash. Lastly, the scammer asks to provide full name, phone number, address, occupation, age, and sex and requests a quick response.

Usually, scammers behind such emails aim to obtain personal information that they could use for identity theft or other purposes and (or) steal money from recipients by tricking them into believing that they will receive a large sum of money in return. Victims of such scams never receive any money. Thus, it is important not to respond to and ignore such emails.

Threat Summary:

Name	Unclaimed Insurance Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	The recipient can receive a large sum of money for cooperation
Disguise	Letter from a lawyer at DAI-ICHI Life Holdings
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.
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Conclusion

This email is a classic example of a scam designed to deceive individuals into providing personal information and sending money to scammers. Recipients should be wary of unsolicited messages claiming large sums of money and should never share personal details without verifying the sender's legitimacy.

Some examples of similar scams are "Moving Funds To Your Account", "Beneficiary Of Will", and "A Businessman Made A Fixed Deposit Of Huge Fund". It is important to be aware that similar emails can be created to trick recipients into activating malware on their computers.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Cybercriminals use email to distribute malware by tricking users into downloading malicious files or clicking harmful links. These emails may contain various file types, such as executable files, Microsoft Office documents, PDFs, ISO files, scripts, ZIP, and RAR files. Opening these files can lead to malware execution.

Whether malware infiltrates systems upon opening malicious files depends on their type. For example, opening malicious MS Office documents often requires users to enable macros for the malware to infiltrate their systems while running malicious executables can lead to immediate damage.

Links in these emails may lead to fraudulent websites designed to trick users into downloading malware or may automatically initiate malware downloads.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Always examine opened emails carefully before taking further action. Avoid opening attachments or clicking links in emails from unknown senders, especially when emails are irrelevant, unexpected, or suspicious in other ways. Also, do not trust ads, pop-ups, buttons, or links on shady websites.

Only download software and files from reputable sources (official websites and app stores), and refrain from using pirated software or cracking tools. Regularly update your operating system and applications. Additionally, ensure you have a reliable security tool installed and perform system scans regularly.

If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

The appearance of "Unclaimed Insurance" scam email (GIF):

Text presented in the email:

Subject: NEXT OF KIN

Dear ,

I am a Lawyer & Managing Partner at DAI-ICHI LIFE HOLDINGS, the third-largest life insurer in Japan. I am reaching out to you based on careful consideration that you may be capable of handling a confidential business transaction with me. There is an unclaimed insurance policy sum of 55 million USD still held in the bank. All attempts to locate genuine relatives have been unsuccessful, as my client did not declare any next of kin in his official insurance policy documents, including his bank deposit paperwork. According to British Law, if the money is not claimed, it will revert to the ownership of the British government. Therefore, I seek your cooperation to facilitate this transaction.

I am the only person who can represent a next of kin to these funds, failing which they will revert to the British government. I propose that the funds be released in your name as the next of kin and transferred to your account. I will handle all procedures and provide the necessary documentation to ensure a smooth claim process upon your response to this email. I intend to split the funds equally, (45% / 45% / 10%).

My client was among the 14 people killed in a tragic plane crash near a coastal resort in northeastern Brazil. Roger Ian Wright, a founding partner at Sao Paulo financial consulting firm Arsenal Investimentos, perished along with his second wife, son, daughter from a previous marriage, their spouses, two grandsons, one granddaughter, and a great aunt.

Should you be interested? Please send me your:

1. Full names
2. Private phone number
3. Current residential address
4. Occupation
5. Age
6  Sex

I kindly await your earliest response to this matter.

Best regards,
Dr. Landolt Martin
martinsrlandoltrudolf@gmail.com
Lawyer & Managing Partner® | DAI-ICHI Holdings

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Quick menu:

• What is Unclaimed Insurance scam?
• 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?

You probably received this email because it was sent to a broad list of recipients as part of a scam attempt, meaning the scammers did not specifically target you.

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

If you have shared your login details, immediately change all affected passwords. Contact the relevant authorities if you have provided other personal information, such as credit card numbers or ID card details.

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

The chances of infection depend on the file type you interacted with. For example, if you opened a compromised Word document without enabling macros, you may have avoided activating the malware. In contrast, opening an infected executable file likely means your system has been compromised.

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

Your computer will remain safe as long as you only read the email and do not open any attachments or click on links.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner is effective in detecting and removing almost all known malware. However, sophisticated malware can hide deeply within your system. Hence, running a full system scan is necessary for detection and removal.

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