How to identify scams like "Assistance To Move Funds"

What is "Assistance To Move Funds"?

Upon thorough examination, it has been determined that this email exemplifies a classic investment scam, often recognized as an advance-fee scam. The intention is to deceive recipients into sending money to fraudsters. Additionally, it is typical for scammers associated with these emails to solicit personal information. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to disregard such emails.

More about the "Assistance To Move Funds" scam email

In this email, the sender, claiming to be Colonel Ricky Hobbs from Northern Ireland, serving in a NATO base in Poland, seeks the recipient's assistance in moving a substantial sum of money, specifically $21,900,000, to their country for safekeeping and future investment. The promise of a 20% share of the total fund serves as bait to entice the recipient.

However, such emails are typically fraudulent attempts to trick individuals into sending money upfront or providing personal information. Once the victim engages, the scammers may invent various fees, taxes, or expenses, requesting payment before the supposed funds can be transferred.

In reality, there is no large sum of money, and the scammers aim to exploit the recipient's trust and financial resources. It is crucial to exercise extreme caution and promptly ignore and report such emails to relevant authorities to prevent falling victim to scams.

Threat Summary:

Name	Assitance To Move Funds Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipients can receive money for helping the sender
Disguise	Letter regarding an investment oportunity
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.
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Similar scam emails in general

In conclusion, emails like the one purportedly sent by Colonel Ricky Hobbs are indicative of classic advance-fee scams. Such deceptive messages exploit trust by promising significant financial gains in exchange for assistance or upfront payments.

Individuals must exercise vigilant skepticism and promptly disregard unsolicited emails making such lucrative offers. Avoid engaging with the sender, refrain from sharing personal information, and report such instances to appropriate authorities to contribute to the prevention of online scams.

More examples of scam emails are "Issue With The Billing Information", "LOTERIA NAVIDAD 2023", and "Central Loteria Nacional Europa". It is important to be aware that emails sent by cybercriminals can be used to deliver malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Emails carrying malware include harmful links or attachments that, upon being clicked or opened, can initiate the execution of malicious code on the recipient's computer. Compromised or malicious websites pose a threat through drive-by downloads, potentially infecting computers without user interaction.

Malicious actors frequently deploy various types of files, such as executable files, infected documents (like PDF or Microsoft Office), ISO files, JavaScript files, and compressed archives (e.g., ZIP or RAR files), as vehicles for disseminating malware. However, merely opening these files does not guarantee a computer infection.

For instance, infections may occur when users enable macro commands in malicious Microsoft Office documents.

How to avoid installation of malware?

To bolster your computer's security, ensure that both software and operating systems are regularly updated. Employ reputable antivirus software and exercise caution when interacting with email links or attachments. Steer clear of suspicious websites, and refrain from engaging with ads or pop-ups on them.

Download files and applications exclusively from trustworthy sources, such as official websites and app stores. Avoid the risk associated with pirated software or unofficial activation tools. Stay informed about the most recent security threats to proactively safeguard your system.

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 "Assistance To Move Funds" email letter:

Subject: investment

I am Colonel Ricky Hobbs from Northern Ireland.

I am am currently serving in the Nato base in Poland .

I urgently need your  assistance to move my $21,900,000 usd to your country

for safe keeping and future in investment in any lucrative business of your choice.

I am willing to give you 20% of the total fund , if you accept my proposal.

Thanks and waiting to hear from you.

Yours truly

Colonel Ricky Hobbs

Another example of an email from "Assistance To Move Funds" spam campaign:

Text presented within:

Subject: I Resend The email again

 

My name is Reem E. Al-Hashimi, the Emirati Minister of State. I am writing to you to stand as my partner to receive my share of the gratification from the foreign companies that I helped during the bidding process to the Dubai World Expo 2020/2021 Committee.

I am serving as a minister and I have a limit to my personal income and investment level, I cannot receive such a huge amount back to my country or my personal account.

I have agreed with the foreign companies to transfer the gratuities to an open beneficiary account at a financial institution where I will be able to direct further transfer of the funds to a third party account.

The amount is valued at $47,745,533.00 with a financial institution awaiting my instructions for further transfer to a destination account as soon as I have your information indicating interest and I will compensate you with 30% of the total amount and you will also benefit from the investment.

Please note that the above details are subject to my working with you as a partner. reply to me by email: reem.alh2023@gmail.com

If you can make the fund a good investment.
Kind regards,
Reem

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Quick menu:

• What is Assistance To Move Funds advance-fee 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?

Scammers dispatch identical letters to thousands of recipients with the goal of deceiving at least someone. These spam emails lack personalization.

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

If you have disclosed any account credentials, swiftly update all passwords. In the event of revealing additional information, such as credit card details, social security numbers, or ID card information, promptly reach out to the relevant authorities.

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

The likelihood of infection is notably greater when the file is an executable. However, when handling document files like .pdf or .doc, there is a chance of having avoided infection. In certain instances, simply opening the document does not always result in the infiltration of malware into the system.

I have sent cryptocurrency to the address presented in such email, can I get my money back?

Transactions of this nature are nearly untraceable, making retrieval improbable.

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

Simply opening an email is not inherently threatening. System infections usually occur when users click on links embedded within the email or open attached files.

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

Combo Cleaner has the capability to identify and eliminate virtually all known types of malware. It is important to emphasize that advanced malware may hide deeply within the system, underscoring the importance of performing comprehensive system scans to ensure successful detection and removal.

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