Avoid getting scammed by "Bank Draft" phishing emails

What kind of email is "Bank Draft"?

After examining the "Bank Draft" spam letter, we determined that it is a phishing email. This mail aims to trick recipients into disclosing personally identifiable information. The deception entails false claims concerning a large amount of money that recipients are supposedly entitled to.

"Bank Draft" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "Contact Reserve Bank of India For Your New ATM Master Card." informs that the recipient will be sent their "Certified Bank Draft".

Since the sender has not been contacted and the recipient has not arrived to collect the funds in person, the sum of four million USD will be sent on a new ATM card. The process was supposedly arranged with the Reserve Bank of India. The card will be accepted worldwide, but the recipient will be limited to four thousand USD daily withdrawals.

The letter then instructs to provide the following information to the Reserve Bank of India: full name, age, occupation, photograph, country, residential and postal addresses, phone and fax numbers, and email address.

As mentioned in the introduction, all the claims made by this "Bank Draft" email are false. Furthermore, this mail is in no way associated with any legitimate entities or service providers.

Phishing scams targeting personally identifiable information often use it to steal victims' identities and use them to carry out nefarious deeds. Identity theft entails severe privacy and potentially significant financial losses.

If you have been deceived by the "Bank Draft" email and disclosed your private information to scammers – immediately contact the appropriate authorities.

Threat Summary:

Name	"Bank Draft" phishing email
Threat Type	Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud
Fake Claim	Recipient will be sent an ATM card with 4 million USD on it.
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.

Phishing spam campaign examples

We have investigated thousands of spam emails; "Your Account Has Been Blacklisted Due To Phishing", "Moldindconbank email scam", and "Webmail Password Center" are just a few examples of phishing letters.

This mail is used to promote a wide variety of scams and even to proliferate trojans, ransomware, and other malware. Spam can be variously disguised, including as messages from legitimate service providers, companies, organizations, institutions, and other entities.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam emails can include malicious files as attachments or download links. These files come in various formats, e.g., archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

When a virulent file is executed, run, or otherwise opened – the infection chain is triggered. For example, Microsoft Office documents infect devices by executing malicious macro commands, while infectious OneNote files require user interaction (i.e., clicking files/links, etc.).

How to avoid installation of malware?

We strongly advise approaching incoming emails and other messages with caution. The attachments or links present in suspicious mail must not be opened, as they can be virulent. It is important to use post-2010 Microsoft Office versions since they have the "Protected View" mode that prevents automatic macro execution.

Malware is proliferated using various techniques, not only via spam mail. Therefore, we also recommend being vigilant when browsing since fake and malicious content usually appears ordinary and harmless.

Furthermore, all downloads must be performed from official and trustworthy sources. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using legitimate functions/tools, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updaters can contain malware.

We must emphasize that having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date is crucial to device/user safety. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove detected threats. 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 "Bank Draft" spam email letter:

Subject: Contact Reserve Bank of India For Your New ATM Master Card.

Attention: My Dear,

I write to inform you that I have your Certified Bank Draft here in my office to send to you as directed by my boss Mrs. Jane Denni for your DONATION of his success. I have been waiting for you since to come down here and pick up your Bank Draft of Four Million Dollars ($4Million Dollars) of your DONATION but did not heard from you for long time now, Well, i want you to know that i have deposited the Bank Draft with Reserve Bank of India, because i will be traveling to London England for my year course and will not come back till Ending of this year 2023.
 
So now I have arranged with the Reserve Bank of India to make your payment to you with their new ATM MASTER CARD which you can use to withdraw your money in any ATM MACHINE around the globe/world and what you will be withdrawing Daily is $4,000 Dollar's every day . Because the Bank Draft was getting to the expiration date. So You have to contact the Reserve Bank of India, with your full contact information such as follows:

 

1) Your Full Name==========
2) Your Residential Address=======
3)Your Postal Address===========
4) Your Phone And Fax Number=======
5)Your E-mail address============
6)Your Occupation=============
7)Your Official Age============
8)Your Photograph============
9)Your Country===============

However, Kindly contact the Person who is incharge of ATM Department

E:-mail (shri.deepak19711@gmail.com)

MR SHRI DEEPAK SINGHAL the Chief Executive Director ATM Dept and Accountant Administration

 

So try to contact MR SHRI DEEPAK SINGHAL in the Reserve Bank of India ATM Department as soon as possible to quicken the process of your ATM Card before your Bank Draft gets Expired.Let me know as soon as you receive your ATM Master Card do let me know.

Thank you and God Bless

Regards,

Mrs. Marsha Williams

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Quick menu:

• What is "Bank Draft" phishing email?
• 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?

Spam emails are not personal. Cyber criminals distribute this mail in large-scale campaigns – hence, thousands of users receive identical messages.

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

If you have provided your log-in credentials – change the passwords of all possibly exposed accounts and inform their official support without delay. And if you've disclosed other private information (e.g., ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit card numbers, etc.) – immediately contact the appropriate authorities.

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 malware download/installation processes. Systems are infected when malicious attachments/links are opened.

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

If the opened file was an executable (.exe, .run, etc.) – most likely, yes. However, you might have avoided infecting your device if it was a document. These formats (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.) may need additional actions (e.g., enabling macro commands, clicking on embedded content, etc.) to start downloading/installing malware.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is designed to scan devices and eliminate threats. It is capable of removing practically all known malware infections. Note that since high-end malicious software typically hides deep within systems – running a complete system scan is paramount.

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