How to avoid falling for scams like "Payment Refund Commission (PRC)"

What is "Payment Refund Commission (PRC)"?

We have examined the email and discovered that it is a phishing attempt. This email is disguised as a communication from a remittance officer concerning payment refunds. The individuals orchestrating this scam intend to trick recipients into revealing personal information and (or) transferring money.

More about the "Payment Refund Commission (PRC)" scam email

The phishing email is disguised as a communication from a Payment Refund Commission (PRC) associated with the United Nations License Office. It claims to be part of a global initiative to restore the international image and fight against corruption.

The email outlines four key agendas, including recovering and refunding illegally extorted money, denied contractual payments, confiscated or diverted payments, and providing compensation to Covid-19 victims.

The email states that the recipient's email has been selected to receive a substantial refund and compensation totaling $8,500,000.00. In order to proceed with the payment, the recipient is instructed to provide personal information such as full name, country, address, occupation, and direct phone number for immediate processing.

However, this email is a phishing attempt aimed at luring recipients into disclosing personal information or transferring money to the scammers behind it. It uses the guise of a legitimate organization and promises of financial compensation to deceive recipients.

Victims who fall for such scams may suffer financial losses, identity theft, unauthorized access to personal accounts, and potential exposure to further scams or fraud attempts.

Threat Summary:

Name	Payment Refund Commission (PRC) Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipients can recover lost funds
Disguise	Letter from Payment Refund Commission (PRC)
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.

Similar scam emails in general

Emails of this kind often share common characteristics such as urgent requests for personal information or financial transactions, claims of affiliation with reputable organizations like banks or government agencies, promises of financial gain or compensation, grammatical errors or inconsistencies in language, and instructions to act quickly or confidentially.

These emails aim to exploit recipients' trust and induce them to provide sensitive information or make monetary transfers to the scammers behind the fraudulent scheme. It is important to note that such emails can contain malicious files or links.

More examples of phishing campaigns are "Webmail Verification", "Work For Charity", and "Webmail - Low Storage Space".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Emails utilized for disseminating malware feature misleading content crafted to deceive recipients into clicking on harmful links or downloading attachments. When a user engages with a malicious website or opens a downloaded file, it triggers the activation of malware.

Malicious payloads are often hidden within various file types, such as executable files (e.g., .exe), Microsoft Office documents (e.g., .doc, .xls), PDF files, compressed archives (e.g., .zip, .rar), and other formats.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Be vigilant when interacting with email attachments or links, especially if you are unsure about the sender's identity or if the email seems suspicious. Keep your operating system, software applications, and antivirus programs updated to strengthen your computer's defenses against potential threats.

When downloading applications, opt for reliable sources like official websites or reputable app stores to minimize the risk of installing harmful software unintentionally. Practice safe browsing habits by avoiding visits to dubious or untrustworthy websites, and exercise caution when encountering ads, pop-ups, or links on dubious pages.

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 "Payment Refund Commission (PRC)" email letter:

Subject: INFORMATION

Payment Refund Commission (PRC)
United Nations License Office.

This is a Refund Commission set up by the new United Nations Resolution Panel and Executive Management of  BANKS Group Regional Headquarters with U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in accordance with the global Financial System Stability of the IMF/World Bank in other to help restore the International image of our continents and to pay compensation to the less privileges and fight against corruption in all countries of the world this remaining days of 2024 with four Key Agenda.

1). To recover and refund to the legal owner's any money extorted illegally.
2). To recover and refund to the legal owner's any contractual payment denied.
3). To recover and refund to the legal owner's any confiscated or diverted payment.
4). To recover and pay compensation/palliative to Covid 19 Victims.

However, From the records of our randomly selected beneficiaries due for compensation payment with the various Government Agencies, I wish to inform you After verification of the information and file given to us, your email have been allocated to receive a total sum of USD$8,500,000.00 (Eight Million Five  Hundred Thousand Hundred United State Dollars Only) from PRC as your refund and compensation.

Therefore, You are hereby advised to re-confirm your full name, country, address, occupation and your direct phone number for immediate processing of your refund / compensation.

Thanks
Mr. Kenneth Morgan
Remittance officer, Payment Refund Commission (PRC)
United Nations License Office.

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Quick menu:

• What is Payment Refund Commission (PRC) phishing campaign?
• 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?

Fraudsters distribute identical letters to thousands of recipients, relying on the possibility that someone will be deceived. These spam emails lack personalization.

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

Inform your bank or credit card company and change your passwords for affected accounts. Additionally, be cautious of further communication from the scammer and report the incident to the appropriate authorities.

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

If the file was an executable, then it is highly probable that your computer has been infected. However, you may have avoided the infection if it was a document file like .pdf or .doc. In certain cases, merely opening a document is insufficient for malware to infiltrate the system.

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

Unfortunately, once cryptocurrency has been sent to an address provided in a scam email, it is typically irreversible. Cryptocurrency transactions are designed to be decentralized and offer little to no recourse for recovering funds.

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

Simply opening an email does not pose a threat to your system. Malware cannot cause harm unless users open malicious files or links.

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

While Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate almost all acknowledged malware infections, it is crucial to understand that sophisticated malware frequently hides deep within the system. Hence, performing a thorough system scan is imperative to guarantee comprehensive detection and removal.

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