How to avoid getting scammed by fake "Rainbow Lottery" emails

What kind of email is "Rainbow Lottery"?

After reading this "Rainbow Lottery" email, we determined that it is spam. It claims that the recipient's email address has been randomly selected as a winner of one million GBP (pound sterling).

The purpose of this spam campaign is to trick victims into disclosing sensitive data and potentially sending money to scammers. It must be emphasized that this phishing email is not associated with any legitimate lotteries.

"Rainbow Lottery" email scam overview

This spam email claims that the recipient has been chosen as a winner of a £1,000,000 Rainbow Lotto prize. They were selected randomly from a 350,000 international email address pool. It must be reiterated that all the information in this message is false, and this email is not associated with the Rainbow Lottery, gaming/lotto regulatory bodies, or any other genuine entities.

The recipient is instructed to provide their personally identifiable information to the "fiduciary claims department". Targeted data includes: full name, age, sex, occupation, nationality, home address, telephone number, and email address. With this information in their possession, scammers can carry out a variety of nefarious activities, including stealing the victim's identity.

It has to be mentioned that in similar spam campaigns, victims have been asked to send money to cyber criminals under legitimate-sounding reasons like paying taxes or fees.

In summary, by trusting an email like "Rainbow Lottery" – users can experience serious privacy issues, financial losses, and identity theft. If you have disclosed your personally identifiable or finance-related data to scammers – contact the appropriate authorities without delay.

Phishing spam campaign examples

"Message Quarantine Notification", "Request For Prices & Availability", "Email Address Verification Formal Notice", "Mailbox Error Detected", "Nedbank - New Debit Order Notification", "Check Failed Messages", "Confirm Your Identity", and "Email Is Blocked Because The Sender Is Unauthenticated" are merely some of our newest articles on phishing campaigns.

The most commonly targeted information includes – log-in credentials, personally identifiable details, and financial data. However, other types of scams are promoted through spam mail as well. It is also used to distribute all kinds of malware.

Various lures are utilized by these emails, including false claims regarding lotteries, product promotions, giveaways, rewards/loyalty programs, inheritance, business proposals, purchases/invoices, refunds, shipping mishaps, blackmail attempts, expired passwords, outdated subscriptions, critical updates, undelivered messages, account issues, and so forth.

Due to how prevalent spam mail is and how well-crafted it can be – we strongly advise vigilance within incoming emails, PMs/DMs, SMSes, and other messages.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Spam campaigns spread malware through infectious files, which can be attached to or linked inside the emails/messages. These files come in different 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. However, some formats require additional interaction to initiate malware infiltration processes. For example, Microsoft Office files need users to enable macro commands (i.e., editing/content), while OneNote documents require them to click on embedded links or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

We highly recommend caution with incoming emails and other messages. Attachments or links found in suspicious/irrelevant communications must not be opened, as they can be harmful or virulent.

It must be mentioned that malware is distributed using various methods. Therefore, we advise vigilance when browsing since fraudulent and dangerous online content usually appears legitimate and innocuous.

Another recommendation is to download only from official and verified channels. Software must be activated and updated using functions/tools provided by genuine developers, as illegal product activation ("cracking") tools and third-party updates may contain malware.

It is paramount to have a dependable antivirus installed and kept updated. Security programs must be used to run regular system scans and to remove active and potential 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 "Rainbow Lottery" spam email letter:

RAINBOW LOTTERY
Gatherwell Limited, Lytchett House,
13 Freeland Park, Wareham
United Kingdom

Dear Winner,

This is to inform you that you have been selected for a Rainbow Lotto prize of £1,000000GBP from the international balloting program held on the second section in UNITED KINGDOM. You are hereby declared our December 2024 and September 2025 winner.

This selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection system (ESS) from a database of over 350,000 email address drawn from all the Continents of the world which you were selected.

The Rainbow Lottery is approved by the United Kingdom-Gaming Board and also licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulations (IAGR) to begin the processing of your prize, you are to contact our fiduciary claims department for more information as regards procedures to the claim of your prize.

Name: Mr. Tom A Crespo
Email: toma.cespo@outlook.com
Email: toma.cespo@hotmail.com

Email him by providing him with your secret Pin Code Number:B3839TGS4484FC24/25.

You are advised to provide him with the 12 under listed information as soon as possible.

(1) Name in full
(2) Residential address
(3) Age
(4) Sex
(5) Nationality
(6) Occupation
(7) Direct phone number
(8) Direct Email address
(9) Batch Number: B3839TG
(10)SERIAL NUMBER:S4484FC
(11)REF NUMBER:R9747VR
(12)PIN CODE NUMBER: B3839TGS4484FC24/25

Please provide him with the above listed details as soon as possible to enable him process your prize winnings.

Congratulations again from all our staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program which is sponsored by one United Kingdom Group.

MRS. JENNIFER RICHARDSON
RAINBOW LOTTERY
Gatherwell Limited, Lytchett House,
13 Freeland Park, Wareham
United Kingdom

NOTE BELOW: If you receive this message in your SPAM/BULK folder, that is because of the restrictions implemented by your internet service provider, We (RAINBOW LOTTO) urge you to treat genuinely

Appearance of the "Rainbow Lottery" spam email (GIF):

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Quick menu:

• What is "Rainbow Lottery" 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 of such nature. Cyber criminals distribute these messages by the thousand with the hopes that at least some recipients will fall for their scams.

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/debit card numbers, etc.) – contact the appropriate authorities without delay.

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

No, reading an email will not trigger any malware infiltration processes. 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?

Whether the device was infected might depend on the format of the opened file. If it was an executable – most likely, yes – the system was compromised. However, you might have avoided this if it was a document. These formats may need extra interaction (e.g., enabling macros, clicking embedded files/links, etc.) to initiate infection processes.

Will Combo Cleaner remove malware infections present in email attachments?

Yes, Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and removing practically all known malware infections. Remember that performing a complete system scan is crucial since sophisticated malicious programs usually hide deep within systems.