How to identify fake "Humanitarian Aid And Compensation" emails

What kind of email is "Humanitarian Aid And Compensation"?

Our inspection of the "Humanitarian Aid And Compensation" email revealed that it is spam. This phishing message seeks to acquire private information by claiming the recipient is eligible to receive 1.5 million EUR as compensation or aid. It must be emphasized that this email is fake and not associated with any legitimate entities.

"Humanitarian Aid And Compensation" email scam overview

This spam email identifies the sender as an official representative of a special EU department working with the UN. Through this joint directive, the recipient has been awarded 1,500,000€ as compensation/aid. After the recipient verifies their information, the sum will be transferred to them within five business days.

It must be reiterated that all the claims made by this email are false, and this mail is not associated with the European Union, the United Nations, or any other genuine entities.

This scam message requests the recipient to provide their full name, country, occupation, and telephone number. Personally identifiable data can be used for a range of nefarious purposes, including to steal the victim's identity. The scammers behind this spam campaign may ask for more information, such as passport or ID card scans/photos, banking account details, credit/debit card numbers, etc.

Victims could be redirected to fake sign-in pages that operate as phishing sites and record log-in credentials for various accounts, e.g., online banking, money transferring, digital wallets, emails, social networking, etc. Scammers may also request to be transferred money for legitimate-sounding reasons like paying taxes or transaction fees.

To summarize, by trusting an email like "Humanitarian Aid And Compensation" – users can experience severe privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft.

If you have provided your personally identifiable or finance-related information to scammers – immediately contact the corresponding authorities.

Phishing spam campaign examples

"DocuSign - Signature Needed", "Australia Lottery", "Affirm Account Status By Completing CAPTCHA", and "Take Immediate Action" are just a few of our latest articles on phishing campaigns. However, various scams are facilitated via spam mail, and it is used to distribute all kinds of malware.

While the widely held belief that these emails are poorly written and full of grammatical/spelling mistakes is not untrue, that is not always true. This mail can be competently put together and believably disguised as messages from legitimate organizations, institutions, authorities, service providers, companies, and other entities.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns proliferate malware through infectious files that are attached to or linked inside the emails/messages. These files come in various formats, e.g., archives (ZIP, RAR, etc.), executables (.exe, .run, etc.), documents (PDF, Microsoft Office, Microsoft OneNote, etc.), JavaScript, and so on.

Merely opening a virulent file can be enough to initiate the malware infiltration chain. However, some formats require additional actions to begin downloading/installing malicious software. For example, Microsoft Office files require users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents need them to click on embedded links or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages must be approached with caution. We advise against opening attachments or links found in suspicious mail, as they can be harmful or infectious.

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

Additionally, all downloads must be made from official and verified download channels. Another recommendation is to activate and update software using legitimate functions/tools, as illegal activation tools ("cracks") and third-party updates can contain malware.

It is paramount to have a dependable antivirus installed and kept up-to-date. 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 "Humanitarian Aid And Compensation" spam email letter:

Hello

My name is Prof. Dr. Katrina Rathbun. I am the official representative of the European Union's Special Department for Humanitarian Aid and Compensation, working in partnership with the United Nations.

You have been awarded compensation/aid in the amount of EUR 1,500,000.00 (one million five hundred thousand euros) in accordance with a joint EU-UN directive.

Payment will be made within five (5) business days after successful verification of your data and payment approval.
Required information for payment:

Please provide the following important information to the EU Compensation Office:

First and last name:

Country:

Telephone number:

Occupation:

Reference number: NRTB/KC2025/28392/EU

IMPORTANT NOTICE:Send your information directly to the official email address: supporteurope@europe.com

Please note that this is the third and final attempt to contact you. If no response is received, the case will be closed.

For further inquiries or information, please contact the above email address, quoting your reference number.

Sincerely,
Prof. Dr. Katrina Rathbun
Senior Disbursement Officer
Humanitarian Compensation Department
European Union

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Quick menu:

• What is "Humanitarian Aid And Compensation" 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, even if they include details relevant to the recipients. These messages are distributed in mass-scale campaigns – hence, thousands of users receive identical or incredibly similar emails.

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 exposed accounts and inform their official support. However, if you have disclosed other private information (e.g., ID card details, passport photos/scans, credit card numbers, etc.) – contact relevant authorities without delay.

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

No, opening/reading an email does not pose an infection threat. Devices are compromised 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 – your system was infected. However, you might have avoided the infection if it was a document (.doc, .xls, .pdf, .one, etc.). These formats may require additional interaction to jumpstart malware download/installation (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded content, etc.).

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most of the known malware infections. It must be stressed that since high-end malicious programs tend to hide deep within systems – performing a full system scan is critical.