How to spot deceptive emails like "Employee Benefit/Payroll Update"

What is "Employee Benefit/Payroll Update"?

We have examined the email and concluded that it is a scam targeting personal information. Emails of this type are called phishing attempts. Scammers behind this particular email aim to lure recipients into opening a fake web page and disclosing sensitive details. Recipients should be aware of and ignore such emails to avoid potential risks.

More about the "Employee Benefit/Payroll Update" scam email

This scam email pretends to be a payroll update. It asks the recipient to review and sign a document and creates urgency by claiming that the recipient has only 5 days to access the document. The "ACCESS DOCUMENT" link leads to a phishing site to steal personal information. The fake site used in this scam mimics the Office 365 login page.

It requests users to provide their email address and password and mentions that an email address will never be shared with anyone else. However, the information entered on this phishing site is sent to scammers. Scammers who steal login details can use them to access various accounts like email, bank accounts, or social media profiles to gather more personal data or steal money.

If victims use the same password for multiple accounts, scammers may try to break into those as well. They might use this access to send phishing emails, spam, or malware to others. Occasionally, stolen information is sold on the dark web. To protect themselves, recipients should carefully review emails, avoid opening suspicious links or attachments, and avoid sharing personal information on unreliable websites.

Threat Summary:

Name	Employee Benefit/Payroll Update Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient has to review and sign a document
Related Domain	vensuitedoc[.]com
Detection Names	CRDF (Malicious), CyRadar (Phishing), Emsisoft (Phishing), Fortinet (Phishing), Sophos (Malware), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Disguise	Letter regarding ACH Payroll Settlement
Symptoms	Generic greeting, urgent language, suspicious links, grammatical errors.
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

Scammers often use phishing emails to convince recipients to disclose personal information (e.g., login credentials or credit card details) directly via email or through fake websites. They can also use such emails to distribute malware. Therefore, users should be cautious when handling suspicious emails, avoid sharing sensitive details, and refrain from opening any files or links in questionable emails.

Examples of emails used to extract information are "Your Shipment With DHL Express Is On Its Way", "Employee Payroll Portal", and "Removal Request Approved And Initiated".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Emails used to distribute malware contain malicious attachments or links. Opening these attachments or performing certain actions can trigger a malware infection. For instance, running a malicious executable file can instantly infect a device, while compromised MS Office documents may only activate malware after macros are enabled.

Malicious links are used by attackers to deceive users into downloading harmful files or programs from unreliable sources or accessing web pages designed to trigger automatic downloads. In general, these malware infections depend on the user taking some form of action.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Do not open files or click links in unexpected, irrelevant emails from unknown addresses. Download software exclusively from trusted sources, such as official websites or app stores. Regularly update your security software, apps, and operating systems, and use a reliable security tool for protection.

Additionally, do not trust pop-ups, ads, buttons, and links encountered on questionable web pages, and never agree to receive notifications from websites of this kind. 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 "Employee Benefit/Payroll Update" email letter:

Subject: ACH Payroll Settlement: Please review and Sign

Employee Benefit/Payroll Update

To enroll for your Employee Benefit/Payroll Upgrade, follow the prompt below to access document

ATTN:    Employee Details

Employee Email: -

Days Left:    5 Days
ACCESS DOCUMENT
Please note that you will not be able to access the enrollment portal onece the time elapses
This email is sent from an unmonitored mailbox, Do not reply to this email.
Copyright © Adobe system integrated, All rights reserved.

Phishing website used in this scam:

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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 Employee Benefit/Payroll Update 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?

Scam emails are usually sent to a large number of people at once, as scammers count on reaching a few individuals who will fall for the scam. This means that many others have received the same email as well.

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

If you have unintentionally shared any account information with scammers, it is important to change your passwords right away. Be sure to use strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts.

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

When emails include malicious attachments, opening these files or performing certain actions (like enabling macros in MS Office documents) can trigger malware infections. Whether the system is compromised depends on the type of the file you opened.

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

Opening an email by itself is usually safe and cannot cause computer infections.

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

Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most known malware, but advanced threats may hide deeply within the system. To ensure complete removal, a full system scan may be required.

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