How to spot scams like UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization email scam

What kind of scam is "UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization"?

Not so long ago, scammers were taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by pretending to be legitimate organizations or other entities and asking to send money, provide sensitive information, etc. We have examined this email and found that scammers behind it are pretending to raise money for Ukraine.

"UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization" email scam in detail

Scammers behind this email pretending to be the "UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization". They claim that their goal is to collect donations that would help them to provide food and medicine to the citizens of Ukraine and evacuate them. The email contains a Bitcoin wallet address.

It is important to mention that it is unlikely that a legitimate organization would be accepting donations in Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency. If you want to help the people of Ukraine, donate through official, trusted organizations and do so directly on their websites. Research charities before you donate and beware of emails, text (or other private) messages, etc., asking you to donate.

Threat Summary:

Name	UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization Email Scam
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Cyber Criminal Cryptowallet Address	bc1q597zqmhsjjf8h5chh8scleqxrd82x6l4q6gk2t
Disguise	Letter from UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization
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 email scams in general

Typically, scammers behind emails of this kind pretend to be legitimate companies, institutions, organizations, or other entities. Most scammers attempt to trick recipients into providing sensitive information and transferring money.

Examples of email scams are "Army Of Ukraine Need Your Support Email Scam", "Zoho Email Phishing Scam", "DHL Shipment Details Email Scam". Cybercriminals can also use email as a tool to deliver malicious software.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

When threat actors use email to deliver malware, they send letters containing malicious links or files. In both cases, their goal is to trick recipients into executing malware. The most commonly used files to distribute malware are MS Office, PDF, other documents, JavaScript files, executables.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Do not open files or links in suspicious emails (irrelevant emails sent from unknown addresses). Avoid opening downloads from unreliable sources such as third-party downloaders, P2P networks, unofficial pages, etc. Always use official pages as sources for downloading files/programs.

Also, update and activate software properly: achieve it using tools provided by official software developers. Keep the operating system and installed programs up to date. 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 "UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization" email letter:

Subject: UKRAINE Needs your Help!

UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization.

Greetings from Ukraine and we hope this message meets you well.

We are the UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization, and we kindly write to request your assistance/donation to help us evacuate and provide food and medicine to the citizens of Ukraine who have been affected by this war on Ukraine soil.

Within these few days, we have been able to unite families mostly are children with their parents, secure safe clinics for nursing mothers and pregnant women, and evacuate more than 1.4 million people around the cities of Ukraine to a safe location and out from the country especially those who have been seriously wounded and need urgent medical attention.

The financial institutions in the country are all short down due to the crisis of this war on Ukraine soil and we are pleading for your financial support to enable us to evacuate more citizens to a safe zone and to provide food, shelter, and medication for the sick and wounded.

Due to the short down on banks in Ukraine we kindly request your donation via bitcoin to the wallet account below:

Bitcoin Wallet Account:
bc1q597zqmhsjjf8h5chh8scleqxrd82x6l4q6gk2t

We appreciate any amount, however big or small, will make a huge difference in saving lives in Ukraine.

Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

Thank you!

May God Bless and Protect Ukraine.

Sign:
UN Ukraine

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 UN Ukraine Humanitarian Organization 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?

As a rule, scams received via email are never personal. Scammers send the same email to all addresses in their database.

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

Unfortunately, cryptocurrency transactions are virtually untraceable. Therefore, it is very unlikely that you will be able to retrieve lost crypto assets.

Can files or links in emails be malicious?

Yes, but they cannot cause any damage unless opened. Typically, threat actors attach malicious PDF, Microsoft Office or other documents, JavaScript files, archives, executables, or other files.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate malware. If the operating system is infected with high-end malware, scan it using a full. Otherwise, the antivirus software will not detect malware hidden deep in the system.

▼ Show Discussion