Package Reference Email Virus

What is Package Reference?

"Package Reference" is another email spam campaign that shares similarities with Purchase Order Email Virus, Client Requirements Email Virus, and many others.

Cyber criminals use this campaign to proliferate a trojan-downloading malware. "Package Reference" campaign's emails are presented as notifications from DHL company that encourage to download and open an attached document. However, once opened, said file infiltrates Trojan Downloader into the system.

The emails basically contain a message informing users that they've received a package. All detailed information is provided in an invoice document which can be downloaded via given link. However, all these claims are merely attempts to trick unsuspecting users into opening infectious files.

We should also mention that DHL is a completely legitimate company and has nothing to do with this spam campaign. It is very common for cyber criminals to pretend to be employees of huge legitimate companies and governmental agencies just to create the impression of legitimacy - users are way more likely to open files when they are received from someone familiar.

Now presence of Trojan Downloader might have serious consequences. Such tools are used to proliferate viruses that record personal information (logins/passwords, keystrokes, etc.), lock/encrypt data, mine cryptocurrencies, and perform other malicious tasks.

By doing so, such viruses might cause serious privacy issues and significant financial/data losses. Hence, users who've already opened "Package Reference" campaign's attachments should immediately scan the system with a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite and remove all detected threats.

Threat Summary:

Name	Package Reference spam
Threat Type	Trojan, Password stealing virus, Banking malware, Spyware
Symptoms	Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate victim's computer and remain silent thus no particular symptoms are clearly visible on an infected machine.
Distribution methods	Infected email attachments, malicious online advertisements, social engineering, software cracks.
Damage	Stolen banking information, passwords, identity theft, victim's computer added to a botnet.
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.

There are dozens of trojan-type viruses proliferated using email spam campaigns. For example, TrickBot, FormBook, Adwind, Emotet, and so forth. Some spread viruses, some record information. In summary, however, all of them pose huge threat to user's privacy and computer safety. For this reason, eliminating is a must.

How did Package Reference infect my computer?

As mentioned above, "Package Reference" campaign's letters encourages users to download an "invoice". Immediately after opening the file (Microsoft Office document) users are asked to enable macro commands, otherwise the content will not be displayed properly.

However, by doing so users inadvertently grant document a permission to execute commands which infiltrate Trojan Downloader into the system. It is obvious that such malware distribution method is effective and rather simple. However, it is not flawless. Be aware that MS Office documents are only able to infect the system if they're opened using tools from this suite.

In other words, if, for example, user opens .doc file in any other app than MS Word, the malware will not be downloaded. What's more, the malware works only on Microsoft Windows operating system. Therefore, users of other platforms are safe.

How to avoid installation of malware?

In order to prevent this situation users must be very cautious when browsing the Internet. Always be sure to carefully analyze every single email attachment received. Irrelevant files and those received from suspicious/unrecognizable emails should never be opened.

Moreover, be sure to always have a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and running, because these tools are very likely to detected and terminate infectious files before they perform malicious actions. It is also worth noting that 2010 and newer versions of Microsoft Office are designed to open newly-downloaded documents in "Protected View" mode, thereby preventing them from infecting the system.

Hence, using older versions is rather risky. The main reasons for computer infections are careless behavior and lack of knowledge. The key to it's safety is caution. If you've already opened "Package Reference" attachment, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Package Reference" email letter:

Subject: Package reference
Dear Client, You have a package coming.
This message was delivered to inform you that your package is transmitted to our distribution facility. To verify the actual status of a shipment, please click here to view an detailed invoice. OUR COMPANY IS RIGHT HERE FOR YOU
Thanks for choosing DHL Express. We look forward to providing you best possible service and very fast delivery at the very best price. If you have any questions? Please contact our Customer support:
For Customer support, please click right here.

DHL Brandmark, and the orange tones are art logos of DHL Express, Inc. All rights reserved.
Trademarks, names that appear in connection with DHL services are the property of their respective owners.
Don't respond directly to this letter. This notification keeps personal information. If you're not the expected
receiver, the duplicating disclosure or other use of the material of this letter is strictly forbidden and you are
recommended to erase this information promptly.

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 Package Reference spam?
• 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.

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