Avoid infecting your system through fake "Pride Mobility" emails

What is "Pride Mobility" email scam?

After analyzing this "Pride Mobility" email, we determined that it is malspam. This letter is presented as a message regarding a purchase. It must be emphasized that this email is not associated with the legitimate Pride Mobility Products company or any other real entities.

The "Pride Mobility" spam email is intended to trick recipients into opening its malicious attachment - thus triggering LokiBot malware's download/installation.

"Pride Mobility" email scam overview

The fake "Pride Mobility" email requests the recipient to review the attached purchase order (PO) receipt and provide confirmation. When the attachment "PO#CG220208090.gz" (filename may vary) is opened, LokiBot's infection chain is triggered. This malicious program is designed to steal sensitive information.

LokiBot is capable of extracting data from browsers (e.g., usernames/passwords, etc.), and it has keylogging (i.e., keystroke recording) abilities.

To summarize, trusting the "Pride Mobility" scam email can lead to system infections, severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft. If your system is already infected, we strongly advise using an anti-virus to remove the malware immediately.

Threat Summary:

Name	Pride Mobility malspam
Threat Type	Trojan, password-stealing virus, banking malware, spyware.
Fake Claim	Recipient has been sent a purchase order receipt that they need to confirm.
Disguise	Letter from Pride Mobility Products.
Attachment(s)	PO#CG220208090.gz (filename may vary)
Detection Names	Avast (Win32:RATX-gen [Trj]), Combo Cleaner (Trojan.GenericKD.49166570), ESET-NOD32 (A Variant Of MSIL/Kryptik.AFJX), Kaspersky (HEUR:Trojan-PSW.MSIL.Agensla.gen), Microsoft (Trojan:MSIL/AgentTesla.EUV!MTB), Full List Of Detections (VirusTotal)
Payload	LokiBot
Symptoms	Trojans are designed to stealthily infiltrate the victim's computer and remain silent, and 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 passwords and banking information, identity theft, the 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.

Malspam campaign examples

We have analyzed thousands of spam emails; "Dynaseiki Industrial Supplies Email Virus", "DHL NOTICE OF ARRIVAL Email Virus", "CAETANO FORMULA Email Virus", and "The List Of The Problem Email Virus" are merely some examples of letters used to proliferate malware.

This mail is usually presented as "official", "important", "urgent", etc. In addition to spreading malicious software, these letters are also used for phishing and various other scams.

Due to how widespread spam mail is, we highly recommend exercising caution with incoming emails and messages.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam emails proliferate malicious files in the form of attachments or download links. These files can be in various formats, e.g., Microsoft Office and PDF documents, archives (RAR, ZIP, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

When an infectious file is executed, run, or otherwise opened - malware download/installation is initiated. For example, Microsoft Office documents infect systems by executing malicious macro commands.

How to avoid installation of malware?

We advise against opening the attachments or links present in suspicious/irrelevant emails and messages - as that may result in a malware infection. Additionally, we recommend using Microsoft Office versions released after 2010 since they have the "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic execution of macro commands.

Aside from spam mail, malicious software is also spread through dubious download sources (e.g., unofficial and freeware sites, P2P sharing networks, etc.), illegal activation tools ("cracks"), and fake updates. Therefore, always download from official/verified channels and activate/update programs with tools provided by genuine developers.

We must stress the importance of having a dependable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date. Security software must be used to run regular system scans and remove detected threats/issues. 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 "Pride Mobility" spam email letter:

Subject: RE: RE: New PO#CG220208090

Greetings!

PlS find the attached new PO receipt, confirm and reply us timely,thanks.

PO NO:CG220208090

ETD: 15st Mar 2022

Thank-you

Kayla Mackinnon
Purchasing Administration Assistant
Pride Mobility Products Australia/New Zealand
20-24 Apollo Drive
Hallam, Vic 3803
Phone: +61 3 8770 9606
Email: kmackinnon@pride-mobility.com.au
Web: www.pridemobility.com.au

Screenshot of VirusTotal detections of the malicious attachment distributed via "Pride Mobility" spam campaign ("PO#CG220208090.gz"):

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 Pride Mobility malspam?
• 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?

Cyber criminals distribute spam emails in mass-scale operations; therefore thousands, of users receive identical messages.

I have read a spam email but didn't open the attachment, is my computer infected?

No, merely opening/reading an email will not initiate any system infection chains. Malware download/installation is jumpstarted when the attachment or links present in these letters are opened/clicked.

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

Whether an infection was triggered might depend on the file's format. Executables (.exe, .run. etc.) - download/install malware upon opening almost without fail. However, document formats (.doc, .xls, .pdf, etc.) may require additional user interaction (e.g., enabling macro commands) - to initiate the system infection process.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and eliminate almost all known malware infections. It is noteworthy that sophisticated malicious software typically hides deep within the system - therefore, running a complete system scan can be crucial to detection.

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