How to spot scams like "Transfer Money Abroad"
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on
What kind of scam is "Transfer Money Abroad"?
We have inspected the email and found that it is a typical advance fee (or a similar) scam. Scammers behind it aim to trick recipients into transferring money and (or) disclosing personal information. Typically, such emails promise a large sum of money for "participation". They should be ignored.
More about the "Transfer Money Abroad" scam email
Scammers behind this email pretending to be a person named Christelle Adwa, claiming to be the only child of a wealthy businessman who died under suspicious circumstances. The email describes how Christelle's father, a successful entrepreneur in Ivory Coast, supposedly left behind $6.5 million in a fixed deposit and named her as the only heir.
The email explains that her father was poisoned by his business rivals and seeks the recipient's help in transferring the money abroad for investment in real estate and hotels. The email also requests assistance in managing the investment. The recipient is offered 30% of the total amount in return for this support.
The email also claims the transaction will be completed within seven days. This advance-fee scam is designed to trick the recipient into providing personal information or transferring money (paying "administration" or other fake fees). Recipients should ignore emails of this kind to avoid monetary loss, identity theft, or other issues.
Name | Transfer Money Abroad Email Scam |
Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
Fake Claim | Recipient can get a large sum of money for helping the sender |
Disguise | Financial offer from Christelle Adwa |
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. |
Similar scam emails in general
Emails like this are a common tactic used by scammers to deceive individuals into believing they are offered an opportunity to receive a large sum of money. Scammers usually use such emails to steal money or personal information. It is important to recognize these emails and avoid responding to them.
More examples of similar scams are "Portfolio Transfer", "International Lottery & Totalizator Systems", and "Overdue Contract Funds". It is important to mention that fraudulent emails can be used to trick recipients into executing malware.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Cybercriminals use email to spread malware by attaching infected files (e.g., MS Office documents, PDFs, script files, archives, or executables). Opening these attachments can trigger an immediate infection, or these files can require additional actions, such as enabling macros in a compromised Office document, to execute the malware.
Fraudulent emails can also include links to malicious websites. Upon visiting these sites, malware can be downloaded automatically, or the site may deceive users into manually installing harmful software.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Exercise caution when receiving unsolicited emails from unfamiliar senders, particularly those with links or attachments. Avoid opening any files or clicking on links in such emails. Always download software or files from reputable sources, such as official websites or app stores.
Keep your operating system and software up to date, and run regular scans with a trusted security tool. Do not trust pop-ups, ads, or links on suspicious websites, and never allow untrustworthy sites to send notifications. 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 "Transfer Money Abroad" email letter:
Subject: Hello
Hello DearMy name is Christelle Adwa. I am the only child of
late Mr. and Mrs.William Adwa. my father was a wealthy entrepreneur in Ivory Coast. He owned an oil and gas company and also had significant investments in real estate and agriculture. my father was poisoned at a dinner party organized by his business friends and died after a short illness that lasted only a few days. my mother died of breast cancer many years ago when i was a small child.Before my father died, he confided in me that he has a
fixed deposit of six million five hundred thousand United States Dollars (US$6,500,000.00) and he listed my name as his heir on the fund's deposit documents. he explained to me that because of his success and dominance in african business he was poisoned by his business rivals and advised me to take a
trustworthy person to help me transfer this money abroad and use it for investment projects like real estate and hotels.Please, I honorably ask for your support in the following ways:
(1) To act as the investment manager of this money as I am still a student
(2) To arrange for me to come to your country and mine
continue studying(3) To get me a residence permit in your country
In addition, I am willing to offer you 30% of the total amount as compensation for your help after successfully transferring the money to your bank account. Please list your options to help me as I believe this transaction will be completed within seven (7) days expressing your interest in helping me.
Kind regards
Christelle
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Quick menu:
- What is Transfer Money Abroad scam?
- 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?
The message was probably sent to many recipients, and your email address may have been harvested through a data breach, phishing site, or other fraudulent methods.
I have provided my personal information when tricked by this email, what should I do?
If you have shared any login information, update your passwords. For any other sensitive details, like credit card numbers or ID information, notify the appropriate authorities as soon as possible.
I have downloaded and opened a malicious file attached to an email, is my computer infected?
Executable files can cause immediate infections, while other file types, such as documents, may need extra steps (like enabling macros) to activate the malware. The likelihood of your system being compromised varies based on the type of file.
I have sent cryptocurrency to the address presented in such email, can I get my money back?
Unfortunately, cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, so it is unlikely you will be able to recover your money if it has already been sent to scammers.
I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?
Opening an email by itself is safe, but clicking links or opening attachments in deceptive emails can lead to malware infections and other security risks.
Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections that were present in email attachment?
Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most known malware, but more advanced threats may be deeply embedded within the system. In order to eliminate these such infections, a complete system scan is required.
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