Do not trust fake "Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance" emails

What kind of email is "Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance"?

Upon reviewing the "Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance" email, we determined that it is spam. The letter claims that the recipient is entitled to a donation worth millions of euros from the (former) CEO of the Walgreens Boots Alliance.

It must be stressed that this scam email is not associated with any real public figures or entities. Spam mail of this kind typically targets personally identifiable information or aims to trick victims into sending money to scammers.

"Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance" email scam overview

This spam email is in English and French; the message is the same in both languages. It claims that the recipient's email address was randomly selected to receive a "grant donation" of 4,500,000€ from a fund of the CEO of the Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) – Stefano Pessina (who stepped down as the CEO of WBA in 2020). The recipient is instructed to contact the sender for more information.

It must be emphasized that the information in this email is false, and this mail is not associated with Stefano Pessina or other public figures, the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. or any different legitimate companies.

The most common motivation behind spam campaigns of this kind is acquiring personal information or money. Victims can be requested to provide their personally identifiable data like ID card details or passport photos/scans. Cyber criminals may then use this information to steal victims' identities or to carry out other nefarious deeds.

Data can be obtained directly through a request made by email or via phishing websites/files. The latter technique is more commonly used to imitate account sign-in pages or online forms (e.g., registration, payment, etc.) through which criminals can acquire log-in credentials, credit/debit card numbers, and similar. Cyber criminals can also ask to be sent money for legitimate-sounding reasons like handling taxes or transaction fees.

In summary, by trusting an email like "Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance" – users can experience serious privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have disclosed your personally identifiable or finance-related data to scammers – contact the appropriate authorities without delay.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance" spam email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Email recipient was selected to receive 4.5 million euros.
Disguise	Stefano Pessina, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc.
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.

Spam campaigns in general

Spam campaigns are used to promote various scams, such as phishing, sextortion, tech support, advance fee, refund, etc. Additionally, this mail is used in malware proliferation.

While the widely held belief that these emails are poorly written and riddled with grammatical/spelling errors is not untrue, it is not always the case. This mail can be competently crafted and even convincingly disguised as messages from legitimate entities (e.g., companies, institutions, organizations, service providers, authorities, etc.).

"Donation From St Antonio's Cathedral", "New Web Browser Just Signed In", "Document Shared Securely", "HSBC - Account Credited With An Inward Payment", "eBucks Rewards", "Cryptopia email scam", "Turan Drilling & Engineering Company", "American Express - ChargeBack Payment", and "DHL - Customs Clearance" are merely some of our latest articles on spam campaigns.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malware is spread via spam campaigns through malicious files attached to or linked inside the emails/messages. These files come in various formats, e.g., archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), documents (PDF, Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

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

How to avoid installation of malware?

We strongly recommend approaching incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages with care. Attachments or links found in suspicious/irrelevant mail must not be opened, as they can be harmful or infectious.

However, malware is proliferated using various methods. Therefore, we advise vigilance when browsing since fake and malicious online content usually appears legitimate and harmless.

Furthermore, all downloads must be made from official and verified sources. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using functions/tools provided by genuine developers, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updates may contain malware.

We must stress the importance of having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove detected threats and 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 "Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance" spam email letter:

Reference Number: 04311/024

We hope this email finds you well. on behalf of Stefano Pessina, a business magnate, investor and philanthropist, your email has been selected randomly to receive a grant donation of €4,500,000.00(Four million five hundred thousand euro) from CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance.
If you are interested in my donation, do contact for more info.

 

Numéro de référence : 04311/024
Nous espérons que cet e-mail vous parvient bien. Au nom de Stefano Pessina, magnat des affaires, investisseur et philanthrope, votre e-mail a été sélectionné au hasard pour recevoir une subvention de 4 500 000,00 € (quatre millions cinq cent mille euros) du PDG de Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Si vous êtes intéressé par mon don, n'hésitez pas à me contacter pour plus d'informations.

"Trabajando con energía por el cliente 600MIL"

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Quick menu:

• What is "Donation From CEO Walgreens Boots Alliance" spam 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?

Spam emails are not personal, even if they include information relevant to the recipients. This mail is distributed in mass-scale operations – hence, thousands of users can receive identical or incredibly similar messages.

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

If you have provided your log-in credentials – immediately change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support. However, if you have disclosed other private data (e.g., ID card details, passport scans/photos, credit/debit card numbers, etc.) – contact relevant authorities without delay.

I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Reading an email is harmless; systems are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.

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

If the opened file was an executable – most likely, yes. However, you might have avoided the infection if it was a document. These formats may require additional actions (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded content, etc.) to trigger malware download/installation.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate almost all known malware infections. Remember that sophisticated malicious programs tend to hide deep within systems – therefore, performing a complete system scan is essential.

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