Do not trust "U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" emails

What is the "U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" scam email?

"U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" refers to a spam email campaign. This term defines a mass-scale operation during which deceptive/scam emails are sent by the thousand. The emails sent through this campaign (subject "URGENT !!"; may vary) are disguised as messages from a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel.

The messages supposedly concern a large sum of money that must be stored until it will be split 60/40 between the email sender and recipient. Note that the "U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" emails are scams, and none of the information provided by them is true.

Therefore, these message cannot be trusted and should be ignored.

Spam mail often uses the same scam model as "U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" emails to present the sender as a wealthy, respectable, sympathetic, or tragic character (e.g., as a real person known for their philanthropic work, terminally ill, or a relative of someone stricken by illness, and so on).

The fake sender of the scam messages in question is introduced as a single mother of three teenage children, who has the lieutenant colonel rank within the U.S. Air Force. This nonexistent character asks the recipient to aid her in securing a consignment containing funds.

The sum is stated to be twenty thousand USD and is the surplus from military hardware delivery contracts, allegedly executed by the sender's department. The fake consignment's location is specified as the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

The recipient is asked to provide a delivery address and full contact information so that the funds can be sent for storage purposes. The sum will supposedly be divided by a 60/40 split (60% for the sender, 40% for the email recipient). The remaining 60% (twelve thousand USD) will be retrieved once the sender returns from her deployment.

It is implied that the recipient can use the remaining 40% as they please. As mentioned, all of the information provided by the "U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" emails is false. The sole purpose of spam mail is to generate revenue for the scammers/cyber criminals behind it.

The methods used to profit vary from one campaign to another. These deceptive message operate as phishing scams, yet this campaign likely employs other techniques as well. Phishing is a type of scheme designed to extract sensitive and personal information from its victims.

In this case, the targeted data is of a personally identifiable nature. For example, names, surnames, addresses, emails, telephone numbers, etc. The gathered information can then be monetized when used to further other scams and/or is sold to third-parties, likewise intent on misusing it for financial gain.

Schemes that promise victims a monetary reward often request payment (e.g., for transaction of funds to cover shipping or storage fees). The goal is to juxtapose the size difference of the promised profit and paid "fee", thereby tricking victims into paying the scammers in the hope of receiving a much larger sum.

Regardless of how the scam operates, by trusting the "U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" emails, recipients might experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, identity theft, and other serious problems.

Threat Summary:

Name	U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Scam emails claim recipients can receive a monetary reward for storing the sender's funds.
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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"TIM Email Scam", "I Have To Share Bad News With You", "Norton Subscription Has Expired", "Within 96 Hours I'll Ruin Your Prestige", and "EMPLOYEE BENEFITS" are examples of other spam campaigns.

The message distributed through these operations are usually presented as "important", "urgent", "priority", and similar. They may even be disguised as messages from genuine institutions, organizations, companies, service providers, and other entities.

As well as phishing and different types of scams, deceptive emails are also used to proliferate malware (e.g., trojans, ransomware, etc.). Due to the widespread nature of spam mail, you are strongly advised to exercise caution with incoming emails and other messages.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Typically, ransomware and other malware is distributed through malspam campaigns, fake software updating tools, untrusted download sources, unofficial (third party) software activation tools and Trojans. Users infect computers with malware when they open malicious files that they receive via email.

These emails often contain malicious attachments or websites designed to download dangerous files. In most cases, cyber criminals send emails that have Microsoft Office documents, archive files (ZIP, RAR), PDF documents, JavaScript files, and executable files such as .exe attached to them. Fake software updating tools do not update or fix any installed software - they simply install malware instead.

They can also infect systems by exploiting bugs/flaws of outdated software. Examples of dubious file/software download channels are Peer-to-Peer networks such as torrent clients, eMule, various free file hosting sites and freeware download websites.

Users infect computers through these channels when they download and execute malicious files, which are often disguised as legitimate and regular. Software 'cracking' tools supposedly activate licensed software free of charge (illegally), however, rather than activating anything, they often install malicious programs.

Trojans are rogue programs that, if installed, install other malware (causing chain infections).

How to avoid installation of malware

To avoid malware spread via spam mail, you are strongly advised against opening suspicious or irrelevant emails, especially those with any attachments or links present within them.

Additionally, use Microsoft Office versions released after 2010. Malicious programs also proliferate through untrusted download channels (e.g. unofficial and free file-hosting sites, Peer-to-Peer sharing networks and other third party downloaders), illegal software activation ("cracking") tools, and fake updaters.

Therefore, only download from official/verified sources and activate and update software with tools/functions provided by legitimate developers.

To ensure device integrity and user privacy, have a reputable anti-virus/anti-spyware suite installed and kept updated. Furthermore, use these programs to run regular system scans and to remove detected/potential threats.

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 "U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment" scam email message:

Subject: URGENT !!

 

Hello, did you receive my message?

 

This is Brenda J. Gonzalez (LTC) of the U.S Army Special Operations Command (USASOC), 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Air Force Base – Afghanistan

 

Please I need your urgent assistance in securing a consignment (two trunk boxes) containing ($20,000,000), the funds are surpluses of several contracts executed by my department during a supply of MH (Military Hardware).

 

The consignment is presently in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands, via a U.S Military Air & Surface Transportation Company (ADM Europa LLC). My desire and purpose is to have the (ADM Europa LLC) to deliver the funds to you for safe-keeping until I return back to the U.S mid-next year after my deployment.

 

If you receive this message please e-mail me immediately with a delivery address and your full contact information; the deal is 60/40 split (60% for me and 40% for you); I am not a greedy woman and I hope you will not double cross a struggling uniform single mother with 3 teenage children?

 

Once you receive the consignment ($20,000,000) take out your 40% ($8,000,000) and save my 60% ($12,000,000) for me until I return back to the U.S mid-next year after my deployment.

 

May God bless you as you extend your helping hand to the needy!

 

Please REPLY!

 

Respectfully,

 

Lt. Col. Brenda J. Gonzalez (Mrs.)

 

U.S. Army 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne)

 

Air Force Base – Afghanistan

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Quick menu:

• What is U.S Army Special Operations Command Consignment 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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