How to recognize fake Capital One emails

What kind of email is "Capital One - Purchase Was Charged To Your Account"?

Our inspection of the "Capital One - Purchase Was Charged To Your Account" email revealed that it is spam. This fake message alerts recipients of a purchase made with their account – thus, the email lures them into revealing their log-in credentials to a phishing website.

It must be emphasized that the claims made by the email are false, and this mail is not associated with the actual Capital One Financial Corporation.

"Capital One - Purchase Was Charged To Your Account" email scam overview

The spam email with the subject "A purchase was charged to your Capital One account." (may vary) informs the recipient that a $2,169.00 purchase was either placed or charged to their Capital One account. It must be reiterated that the information in this message is false, and this mail is in no way associated with the real Capital One.

When the link on "view your pending and posted transactions" is clicked, it results in a redirect to a phishing website that imitates the Capital One sign-in page. Phishing sites record entered data and send it to scammers.

Stolen finance-related accounts (e.g., online banking, money transferring, digital wallets, etc.) can be variously abused, including to make fraudulent transactions and online purchases.

To summarize, by trusting an email like "Capital One - Purchase Was Charged To Your Account" – users can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have provided your log-in credentials to a phishing website/file – change the passwords of all possibly compromised accounts and inform their official support without delay. It might also be necessary to contact the appropriate authorities.

Phishing spam campaign examples

"New Webmail 2.0", "Trust Wallet Sign-In Attempt", "Wedding Invitation", and "Capital One - Card Restricted" are just some of our latest articles on phishing emails.

Aside from log-in credentials, these campaigns often target personally identifiable data and finance-related information. Various scams are promoted through spam mail, and it is utilized in malware proliferation.

While these emails are often poorly written and riddled with mistakes, they can be competently put together and even convincingly disguised as messages from legitimate companies, service providers, organizations, authorities, and other entities.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malware is commonly distributed via spam campaigns. These emails contain infectious files as attachments or download links. Virulent files come in various formats, e.g., documents (Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, PDF, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

Merely opening a malicious file can be enough to trigger the infection chain. Some formats need additional actions to initiate malware download/installation. For example, Microsoft Office files require users to enable macro commands (i.e., content/editing), while OneNote documents need them to click on embedded files or links.

How to avoid installation of malware?

It is essential to treat incoming emails, PMs/DMs, and other messages with care. We advise against opening attachments or links found in suspect/irrelevant mail, as they can be harmful or infectious.

However, malware is not distributed exclusively via spam mail. Therefore, we recommend being cautious while browsing since the Internet is rife with deceptive and malicious content.

Another recommendation is to download only from official and verified sources. Additionally, all programs must be activated and updated using legitimate functions/tools, as illegal activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updates can contain malware.

We must stress the importance of having a reputable anti-virus installed and kept up-to-date. This software must be used to perform regular system scans and to remove detected threats and 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 "Capital One - Purchase Was Charged To Your Account" spam email letter:

Subject: A purchase was charged to your Capital One account.

Sign In

A purchase was charged to your account.

About your Capital One account.

As requested, we’re notifying you that on Date 6/3/2025 14:13:28 at United Airlines, a pending authorization or purchase in the amount of $2,169.00 was placed or charged on your Capital One account.

Note: You’ll receive this notification for both purchases and pending authorizations, such as car rentals, hotel reservations and gas purchases, even if an actual transaction hasn’t taken place.

Please visit your account to view your pending and posted transactions.

Screenshot of the phishing website (fake Capital One sign-in page) promoted by this spam campaign:

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Quick menu:

• What is "Capital One - Purchase Was Charged To Your Account" 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?

Regardless of any relevant information that a spam email includes – it does not make it personal. These emails are sent out in large-scale campaigns – therefore, thousands of users receive identical (or incredibly similar) 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 – immediately change the passwords of all potentially compromised accounts and inform their official support. However, if you have disclosed other private data (e.g., ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit card numbers, etc.) – contact the corresponding authorities without delay.

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

No, reading an email does not pose an infection threat. Systems are infected when malicious attachments or links are opened/clicked.

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 – the device was compromised. However, you might have avoided the infection if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .one, .pdf, etc.). These formats may require additional actions (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded content, etc.) to begin downloading/installing malware.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and removing nearly all known malware infections. Remember that performing a complete system scan is paramount since high-end malicious programs tend to hide deep within systems.