How to recognize scams like the fake "Salary Bonus" email

What kind of scam is "Salary Bonus"?

We have reviewed the email and found it to be a phishing email. Scammers behind this email aim to trick recipients into thinking they received a notification from an email service provider. The goal is to steal personal information through a deceptive website. Recipients should not respond to this email or click the provided link.

More about the "Salary Bonus" scam email

This phishing email, with the subject line "DECEMBER SALARY BONUS", claims to be from the "Board of Directors". It instructs the recipient to review and keep a record of their "December Salary Bonus". The email includes a link (button) to "VIEW DECEMBER SALARY BONUS". Clicking this link opens a fake website imitating a Webmail login page.

On this site, users are instructed to enter their email address and password (email account login credentials) to log in. However, the details entered on the page are sent to scammers. Scammers can use stolen email account login credentials to access personal information, such as contacts, financial details, and sensitive messages.

They can also impersonate the account owner to spread malware or scam others. Additionally, the stolen credentials can be used to reset passwords for other online accounts (or access accounts that use the same login information), potentially gaining access to banking or social media profiles, leading to more issues.

Thus, it is important to careful with suspicious emails and verify their legitimacy to avoid financial loss, identity theft, and other harm.

Threat Summary:

Name	Salary Bonus Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	The email includes a link to December salary bonus
Disguise	Letter from board of directors
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

These emails usually pretend to be from trusted companies or organizations to seem credible. They aim to deceive recipients into clicking on links or opening attachments, often with the intent to steal sensitive information. Sometimes, these emails can also be used to infect devices with malware.

Users should be careful when encountering questionable emails to avoid potential negative consequences. Some examples of scam emails used to extract personal information are "Removal Of Dormant/Inactive Accounts", "Some-one Try To Login Into Your Mailbox Address", and "Your Office Account Storage Is Nearly Full".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malware can infect systems when users interact with harmful attachments or links. These attachments may include infected MS Office documents, archives, PDFs, executables, scripts, etc. Malware is activated when these files are opened, or additional actions are taken (e.g., macros commands are enabled in compromised documents).

Malicious links in emails can direct users to fake websites that deceive them into downloading malicious software. In other instances, these sites may automatically download malware onto the system without requiring additional user interaction.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Always scrutinize emails, especially those that seem irrelevant or come from unfamiliar senders, before taking action. Avoid clicking links or opening attachments if emails are suspicious. Only download software from official websites or trusted app stores, and steer clear of suspicious ads, pop-ups, and links on unreliable websites.

Keep your operating system and applications up to date, ensure your antivirus or anti-malware software is also up to date, and use it regularly. 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 "Salary Bonus" email letter:

Subject: DECEMBER SALARY BONUS

Greetings -

Find your December Salary Bonus by the Board Of Directors. Please review and keep your records.

VIEW DECEMBER SALARY BONUS

Mail Server.

Screenshot of the fake web page 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 Salary Bonus 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 often send the same generic email to many recipients. These messages are not personalized, and you likely received one because your email address was obtained through a data breach or other means.

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

Quickly update any compromised passwords. If you cannot access your email or other accounts, contact their support team for help.

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

Opening harmful attachments can lead to infections, depending on the file type and actions taken. For instance, executing malicious .exe files triggers an immediate infection, while malicious MS Office documents only cause issues if macros are enabled.

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

Simply opening an email is not dangerous, but clicking links or opening attachments in suspicious emails can result in infections.

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

Combo Cleaner can identify and remove most malware infections. However, since advanced malware can hide deep within the system, running a full system scan is crucial for thorough removal.

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