How to identify fraudulent emails like "Lottery Winnings Compensation"

What kind of scam is "Lottery Winnings Compensation"?

Our team has analysed the email and found that it is a fake letter regarding compensation. The scammer behind it pretends to be a well-known person and offers recipients a large sum of money. As a rule, the purpose of such emails is to extract money or information from unsuspecting recipients.

More about the "Lottery Winnings Compensation" scam email

The email says the recipient was previously involved in an "unfinished" money transfer, and although the original funds were sent to someone else, the sender wants to compensate the recipient. It claims the recipient is entitled to a $20 million compensation, supposedly lottery winnings.

The money is allegedly deposited at a finance house in Ghana, which will issue an international certified bank draft that can be cashed at the recipient's bank. The recipient is instructed to contact a "Compensation Officer" named Rev. Sis Rhoda Benzy via email and provide personal information such as full name, address, phone number, occupation, age, nationality, and more.

However, there is no real money involved. This email is a scam designed to trick the recipient into providing personal information or paying "fees" (e.g., administration or transaction fees). The promised compensation does not exist. It is a common tactic to lure victims with fake large sums of money to steal money or personal details.

Similar scam emails in general

These emails are scams that promise large sums of money to lure victims into providing personal information or paying fees. They often impersonate well-known people, organizations, or companies to appear legitimate. In reality, there is no money, and the goal is to scam the recipient.

Some examples of similar scams are "International Air Transport Association (IATA)", "Internet Crime Complaint Center", and "Fidelity Investments".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Cybercriminals often spread malware through email by attaching harmful files. They include infected Word or Excel documents, PDFs, executables (.exe), scripts, compressed files like ZIP or RAR, etc. Once opened, malicious files can start the infection chain, especially if they are executables.

Another common tactic is including links. Clicking these links can open sites that initiate an automatic download of malware or trick users into manually downloading and running malicious software.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Exercise caution with emails containing unexpected attachments or questionable links, and avoid engaging with messages from unknown or suspicious senders. Always obtain software and files from official sources or trusted app stores. Do not download and use pirated programs, keygens, or unauthorized activation tools.

Keep your operating system and applications up to date, and safeguard your device with reliable antivirus software. Avoid clicking on pop-ups, advertisements, or buttons on unreliable websites, and never allow such sites to send you notifications. If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Appearance of the email (GIF):

Text presented in the "Lottery Winnings Compensation" email letter:

Dear Friend,

How are you today? Hope all is well with you and your family? I hope This mail meets you in a perfect condition.

I am using this opportunity to thank you for your great effort to our unfinished transfer of fund into your account due to one reason or the other best known to you.

But I want to inform you that I have successfully transferred the Cheque out of the company to someone else who was capable of assisting me in this great venture.

Due to your effort, sincerity, courage and trust worthiness you showed at the course of the transaction I want to compensate you and show my gratitude to you with the sum of 20,000.000.00(Twenty Million United States Of American Dollars) in respect to your lottery winnings Compensation.

I have authorized the finance house in the Ghana where I deposited my money to issue you international certified bank draft cashable at your bank.

My dear friend I will like you to contact the finance house for the collection of this international certified bank draft. The name and contact address of the Person with your Cheque is as follows.

COMPENSATION OFFICER
CONTACT AGENT
Rev. Sis Rhoda Benzy
EMAIL: mrsrhodabenzz@gmail.com

Contact him with the following information

1. Full Name:
2. Residential Address:
3. Phone Number:
4. Fax Number:
5. Occupation:
6. Sex:
7. Age:
8. Nationality:
9. Country:

At the moment, I am very busy here because of the investment projects which I and my new partner are having at hand.

Finally, remember that I have forwarded instruction to the finance house on your behalf to send the bank draft to you as soon as you contact them without delay. Please I will like you to accept this token with good faith as this is from the bottom of my heart.

Thanks and God bless you and your family. Hope to hear from you soon.

Best Regards,
Mr. Elon Musk
Controller General

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Quick menu:

• What is Lottery Winnings Compensation 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?

Scammers often send the same message to multiple recipients, usually using email addresses gathered from data breaches, fake websites, or similar sources.

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

If you have disclosed information like credit card numbers, personal identification details, or banking details, notify the appropriate institutions or authorities to report the incident.

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

Most document files are harmless by default and only become dangerous if the user enables macros or interacts with them in specific ways. On the other hand, executable files (.exe) can immediately launch malware once opened. So, probability of infection depends on the type of file involved.

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

Such transactions are nearly impossible to trace, making it highly unlikely that you will be able to recover the funds

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

Simply opening an email is generally safe. However, your device can become infected if you click on malicious links or open dangerous attachments contained within the message.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and removing most known malware threats. However, because advanced malware can hide deep within the system, it's strongly recommended to run a full system scan for thorough detection and removal.