How to recognize fake offers like "Loan Investment Opportunities For Your Business"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What kind of scam is "Loan Investment Opportunities For Your Business"?
Our team has inspected the email and discovered that it is a scam email created to steal money and (or) personal information from unsuspecting recipients. It is important to recognize such emails and not respond to them (or engage with them in other ways) to avoid potential negative consequences.
More about the "Loan Investment Opportunities For Your Business" scam email
This scam email appears to be from someone ("Engr Lê Ngọc Sơn") claiming to offer a loan investment opportunity for the recipient's business project. The sender asks the recipient to contact them through a personal email address, private@mrlengocson.com, for further discussion. Responding to or contacting scammers behind this email may lead to various issues.
Once contacted, scammers might try to manipulate recipients into sharing personal information, such as bank details, login credentials, or ID card information. They may also try to lure scammers into fraudulent investment schemes, promising high returns or business opportunities.
Moreover, they might ask for upfront payments disguised as processing, administration, or other fees. Additionally, scammers could collect and sell recipients' information for use in future scams. Falling for such scams can lead to monetary loss, identity theft, and other issues. Knowing how to identify scam emails is important to avoid any of the mentioned issues.
Name | Loan Investment Opportunities For Your Business Email Scam |
Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
Fake Claim | The recipient is offered an investment opportunity |
Cyber Criminal Email Address | private@mrlengocson.com |
Disguise | Business proposition |
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. |
Similar scam emails in general
Emails of this kind are often generic messages offering investment opportunities or warning about urgent matters. They can also include names, addresses, contact information, and other details of legitimate (or non-existing) companies. If the email urges quick action or promises unrealistic rewards, it should be carefully examined before engaging.
Some examples of fraudulent emails are "Roundcube Account Will Be Suspended", "Binance Charity - California Wildfires Fundraiser", and "PROTON LOTTERY".
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Malware is distributed via email through infected attachments or links to unsafe websites. These attachments (e.g., PDFs, MS Office documents, executable files, archives, or script files) are used to trick users into triggering malware execution. Malware can be executed by opening malicious executables, enabling macros in compromised documents, or taking other actions.
Fraudulent emails may also direct users to compromised websites that either automatically download malware or deceive them into manually installing the malicious software.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Only download programs and files from trusted sources, such as official websites or app stores. Using other sources (and downloading pirated software) can lead to malicious downloads. Avoid clicking ads, pop-ups, buttons, and links placed on shady sites, and never allow dubious pages to send notifications.
Be cautious with email links and attachments, especially if they are unexpected, irrelevant, or from unknown senders. Keep your operating system and software up to date, and regularly scan your device with a reputable security tool. 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 "Loan Investment Opportunities For Your Business" email letter:
Subject:
Good day,I am reaching out to discuss a proposition for loan investment opportunities for your business project.
Kindly contact me on my personal email for further discussion: private@mrlengocson.comThank you for your time, and I look forward to your response.
Best regards,
Engr Lê Ngọc Sơn.
Instant automatic malware removal:
Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:
▼ 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 Loan Investment Opportunities For Your Business scam 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 a scam email?
These emails are sent randomly (scammers usually do not target specific individuals). Scammers collect email addresses from data breaches, scam websites, or other sources and send the same message to a large number of people.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by a scam email, what should I do?
Change the passwords for the affected account and any other accounts using similar credentials (if you have disclosed login credentials). In other cases, report the incident to the appropriate authorities.
I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached an email, is my computer infected?
The risk depends on the type of file used to deliver the malware. Opening malicious executables can lead to immediate damage. However, other files, like documents or archives, typically cannot deliver malware unless further actions are taken after opening them.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Emails are generally safe to open, as long as recipients do not open suspicious links or attachments that could carry malware.
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 lurk deep within the system. To ensure removal, it is recommended to run a complete system scan.
▼ Show Discussion