How to spot scam emails like "Payment Has Been Sent"

What is "Payment Has Been Sent"?

Our team has scrutinized this email and found that it is fraudulent. It masquerades as a notification regarding a payment to lure recipients. The scammers behind it aim to trick recipients into clicking a misleading link and providing personal information. Such emails are known as phishing emails, and they should be avoided/ignored.

More about the "Payment Has Been Sent" scam email

This phishing email informs the recipient that a payment was sent this morning, and a receipt for the payment is attached for reference. It instructs the recipient to click the "View Payment Recept.pdf" button/link and check if the provided bank details are correct. During our analysis, the provided link led us to a website that was down.

However, links (or files) in such emails usually take users to fake login sites or similar pages designed to trick visitors into entering login credentials (usually an email address and a password). When scammers steal login credentials, they can gain access to a victim's accounts, including email, social media, and financial services.

With this access, they can try to steal money, information, and identities, send scam emails to contacts, deliver malware, and more. Additionally, they might sell the stolen information on the dark web. Ultimately, the victim may suffer financial losses, become a victim of identity theft, and experience other issues.

Therefore, it is important to examine suspicious emails before responding to them or opening the included links or attachments.

Threat Summary:

Name	Payment Has Been Sent Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	A payment was sent to the recipient
Disguise	Notification regarding a payment
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

Usually, phishing emails appear to be from legitimate sources and are designed to trick recipients into revealing personal information. They often urge recipients to click the provided links or download attachments. Scammers use such emails to obtain login credentials, credit card details, ID card information, or other details.

Moreover, fraudulent emails can be used to trick recipients into executing malware on their computers. Some examples of scam emails targeting personal information are "MetaMask Wallet Verification", "Security Token For Business Email Is Outdated", "Mailbox Security Maintenance".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

When threat actors utilize email to deliver malware, they include malicious files (attachments) or links in their fraudulent emails. When a user opens an infected file, like a document or executable, it may activate malware. Some malicious files require additional steps before they can infect the computer.

For example, malware in Microsoft Office documents activates when the user enables macro commands. Links in deceptive emails can take users to sites designed to trick them into downloading harmful software. These links can also redirect users to sites that initiate automatic malware downloads.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Examine emails before opening any attachments or clicking on links. Refrain from interacting with files or links from unknown senders, especially if the emails appear irrelevant, unexpected, etc. Only download software and files from reliable sources, such as official websites and app stores.

Avoid downloading pirated software, cracking tools, and key generators, and avoid using sources like P2P networks, third-party downloaders, free file hosting sites, unofficial pages, etc. Also, do not trust ads and pop-ups on questionable websites, and perform regular system scans with a trusted security program.

Lastly, keep the operating system and all apps up to date. 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 "Payment Has Been Sent" email letter:

Subject: Payment done

Dear -

Kindly note that payment has been sent this morning Below is the payment receipt for your reference

View Payment Recept.pdf

Please check if bank details is correct.

Screenshot of the promoted phishing site:

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▼ 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 Payment Has Been Sent 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?

Scammers usually send the same email to many people. Their emails are not personal. Scammers obtain email addresses in various ways, includig data breaches and deceptive websites.

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

Immediately change your password for that account and enable two-factor authentication (2FA) if available. Monitor the account for suspicious activity, and check other accounts that may use the same login details.

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

Executable files are more likely to infect your system if opened. Document files like .pdf or .doc are generally less risky, as simply opening them does not always result in malware infection. Therefore, the likelihood of infection depends on the type of the malicious file you open.

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

Simply opening an email is generally safe. However, clicking on any links or opening attached files within the email can lead to system infections.

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

Combo Cleaner is effective at detecting and removing most known malware infections. However, since advanced malware often embeds itself deeply within the system, a full system scan may be necessary to completely remove it.

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