How to identify scam emails like "Reliable Trustee"

What kind of email is "Reliable Trustee"?

After reading this "Reliable Trustee" email, we determined that it is spam. According to the letter, the recipient will be presented as the next of kind for a deceased multi-millionaire, thus enabling them to claim an exorbitant amount.

This phishing campaign aims to deceive recipients into disclosing personal information and potentially sending money to scammers.

"Reliable Trustee" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "Barrister Richard E.Walker." (may vary) begins with the sender introducing themselves as an attorney. They are searching for a trustee to handle their deceased client's assets, valued at ninety-seven and a half million USD.

The supposed sender is offering the recipient a proposal. The latter is to be presented as the late client's next of kin, and the funds will be divided thus – 40% of the total sum will be the recipient's, 10% will be left to cover any expenses, and 50% will be for the sender.

If this proposal is agreed to, the recipient is to provide the following information – full name, age, occupation, address, and contact details (e.g., telephone and fax numbers). Scammers can use private information for a variety of nefarious purposes, including identity theft.

During communication with scammers, victims may be deceived into disclosing their finance-related data or sending money to cyber criminals (for legitimate-sounding reasons like paying taxes or fees).

To summarize, by trusting an email like "Reliable Trustee" – victims can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have provided your personally identifiable or financial information to scammers – immediately contact relevant authorities.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Reliable Trustee" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient is offered a deal in which they will be presented as the next of kin of a deceased millionaire, so that they can claim 97,500,000 USD.
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.

Phishing spam campaign examples

"Payment Schedule Document", "You're Added To A New Group", "Mail Cloud Server", "Mailbox Issue Identified", "Updated Service Terms", and "Your Chase Banking Has Been Disabled" are just some of our newest articles on phishing emails.

These campaigns primarily target personally identifiable information, account log-in credentials (usernames/passwords), and finance-related data. However, various scams are promoted through spam mail, and it is used to proliferate all kinds of malware.

Due to how prevalent spam emails are and how well-made they can be – we strongly recommend treating incoming messages with caution.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns spread malware in the form of infectious files that can be attached to or linked inside the emails/messages. Virulent files come in various formats, e.g., documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

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

How to avoid installation of malware?

We advise vigilance with incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages. Attachments or links found in suspicious/irrelevant mail must not be opened, as they can be virulent.

However, malware is proliferated using various methods. Therefore, we recommend being careful when browsing since the Internet is rife with deceptive and malicious content.

Additionally, all downloads must be made only from official and verified sources. Programs must be activated and updated using genuine functions/tools, as illegal activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updates can contain malware.

It is paramount for device integrity and user safety to have a reputable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date. Security software must be used to run regular system scans and to remove detected threats. 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 "Reliable Trustee" spam email letter:

Subject: Barrister Richard E.Walker.

Dear Friend,

With all due respect,

My name is Richard Walker, an attorney by profession. In my quest to find a reliable trustee to manage the assets of my late client valued at $97,500,000.00 (Ninety Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars, I decided to write this proposal, hoping to have a profitable business relationship with you.

Here is a short press report shortly after her passing away:
-

Whatever that report painted her to be, she was a great woman doing good especially in the area of charity, in the last five years of her life

 

I shall be willing to supply you with more detailed information concerning this business upon hearing from you. I have no intention whatsoever of interfering with your private life considering the fact that you have never had any communication with me in the past. Due to the nature of this business, and by law, I cannot assume the role of a trustee or appoint any of my relatives to become the trustee.

By virtue of the facts and circumstances surrounding this project, I am left with no other choice, but to carry out a careful search for a reputable person outside the shores of my country in the United Kingdom and consequently seek your consent to stand as the Deceased Next of Kin.

You will be entitled to 40% of the total sum as your share, 10% will be mapped out to offset any expenses both parties might make during the course of this transaction while 50% will be for me.

 

If you wish to deal, do provide me with the following information.

1. Your full names

2. Tel & fax numbers

3. Complete Address

4. Your occupation and your Age.

Again, I shall provide you with more detailed information upon hearing from you through this my private email address:

Regards,

Barrister Richard E.Walker.

Appearance of the "Reliable Trustee" spam email (GIF):

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Quick menu:

• What is "Reliable Trustee" 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?

Spam emails are not personal, even if they include details relevant to the recipients. These messages are distributed in massive operations – therefore, thousands of users receive identical (or incredibly similar) emails.

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

If you have disclosed personally identifiable or finance-related information (e.g., ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit/debit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the appropriate authorities. And if you have provided your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support.

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

No, reading an email does not pose an infection threat. Malware download/installation is jumpstarted 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 file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes – the device was infected. However, some formats – like documents (.doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.) – need more than just being opened to trigger malware infiltration (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded content, etc.).

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is designed to scan devices and eliminate all kinds of threats. It can detect and remove practically all known malware infections. Remember that running a complete system scan is essential since high-end malicious programs tend to hide deep within systems.

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