How to spot fake emails like the "Romance Email Scam"

What is "Romance email scam"?

Our inspection of the email has uncovered that it is a typical romance scam. Fraudsters behind such schemes usually aim to exploit the victim financially. Scammers can also use such emails to trick individuals into disclosing personal information. This and similar emails should be ignored to avoid monetary loss, identity theft, or other issues.

More about the "Romance email scam"

This scam email presents itself as a friendly and casual message from a woman named Elizabeth, who claims to be a single Hispanic woman from New Jersey seeking a genuine relationship. The message encourages the recipient to reply directly via email to continue the conversation. It also includes an email address (elizabethgomez202400@gmail.com) and an attachment.

Scammers use emails like this to lure victims into emotional conversations, building trust over time. Their ultimate goal is often to manipulate the victim into sending money, gifts, or personal information, such as credit card details or ID card information. Recipients should know how to recognize such emails to avoid falling for them.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this email is a typical example of a romance scam, designed to exploit emotions and gain the victim's trust. Recipients should remain cautious, avoid responding, and report or delete such messages to protect themselves from potential harm. It is important to note that fraudulent emails like this one can sometimes be used to deploy malware.

More examples of scam emails are "Bittrex Remaining Claim", "Wells Fargo - Important Security Check", and "SumUp - Update Your Profile".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Cybercriminals often use email as a delivery method for malware. They do so by attaching malicious files. These files often come in the form of infected executables, compressed files (e.g., ZIP or RAR), Office documents with malicious macros, PDFs, ISO disk images, or script files.

Engaging with these attachments—such as opening a file or enabling content—can activate the malware on the recipient’s device. Alternatively, the email may contain deceptive links that lead to compromised websites. Once there, users may be exposed to drive-by downloads or manipulated into executing malware themselves.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Avoid opening links or attachments in unsolicited or irrelevant emails, especially those from unfamiliar senders. Also, do not interact with pop-ups, ads, or other content on suspicious websites, and never grant these sites permission to send notifications. Use trusted antivirus software and run regular system scans.

Only download software and applications from official sources or app stores. Regularly updating the operating system and all installed applications is also important for minimizing security risks. 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 "Romance email scam" email letter:

Subject: HI

Hey there, how are you? Well I know this is an awkward way to make connection. But I do believe that the internet has made it easy for us to get connected with people and get to know each other. I'm a Hispanic woman from New Jersey, and I'm single. I'm hoping to meet someone who's looking for a good woman to have a relationship with too. My name is Elizabeth it's a pleasure meeting you, and I will appreciate if you will respond back to my message and let's get to know more about each other. I am easy going and down to earth and I have a good sense of humor. I love to laugh a lot and I think it's important that we enjoy and make the most of life. Life itself is too short to not have be happy and enjoy it. You can write to me directly from here. So we can communicate better and get to know more about each other. Do take good care of yourself and have a wonderful day, I look forward to your reply. elizabethgomez202400@gmail.com

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Quick menu:

• What is Romance 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?

Your email address was most likely obtained through a data breach, a suspicious website, or another unreliable source. Scam emails are typically generic and not personalized—meaning the same message is sent to many recipients at once.

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

Contact the appropriate authorities. Immediately change passwords for any accounts that may be at risk. If you have shared financial details, notify your bank right away.

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

Malicious attachments can lead to infection if they are opened or further interacted with. However, not every file causes harm right away—the risk depends on the specific type of file and what was done after that.

I have read the email but did not open the attachment, is my computer infected?

Simply viewing or opening an email is generally safe. In most cases, malware can only infect a device if the user clicks on a harmful link or opens a malicious attachment contained in the email.

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

These types of transactions are nearly impossible to trace, which means recovering the funds is highly unlikely.

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

Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and removing the majority of known malware threats. However, more sophisticated infections often hide deep within the system, making them harder to identify. For this reason, performing a full system scan is strongly recommended to ensure complete detection and removal.