How to spot scams like a fake email from "Pretpark Tours"

What is the fake email from "Pretpark Tours"?

We have inspected the email and concluded that it is a phishing email masquerading as a booking inquiry from Pretpark Tours, a travel agency in the Netherlands. This scam email is designed to trick recipients into opening a deceptive website and entering personal information. Falling for it can result in account hijacking and possibly other problems.

More about the "Pretpark Tours" scam email

This email appears to come from a legitimate company and claims to provide details for a planned booking. It claims to include a document, supposedly containing itinerary information. The message encourages the recipient to review the attachment. The email also includes a sender name, company, and website to make it appear trustworthy and legitimate.

Clicking the provided link (labeled "Pretpark Booking Inquiry .docx") opens a fake sign-in website. This site is designed to mimic the appearance of the recipient's email provider. For instance, Gmail users are presented with a fake Gmail sign-in site. The purpose of this website is to extract email addresses and passwords (login credentials) from unsuspecting users.

Scammers behind it seek to take over email accounts so they can spread scams, deliver malware, or collect personal information (or perform other malicious actions). Stolen credentials may also be used to access social media, gaming, banking, or other online accounts. Falling victim can lead to account hijacking, identity theft, financial loss, and other serious problems.

Emails like this are fake and should be treated as untrustworthy; they should be deleted immediately.

Conclusion

This scam email pretends to be a legitimate booking notice but is crafted to steal login credentials through a deceptive link. Falling for it can lead to account takeover, identity theft, and financial loss. Recipients should know how to recognize such scams to avoid the associated risks.

More examples of similar emails are "Change To The Webmail Access Interface Scam", "Authenticate Your Email Address Scam", and "Email Address Will Be Deactivated As A Security Measure Email Scam". Sometimes, scam email can be designed to distribute malware.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Cybercriminals frequently use email to distribute malware. Their messages usually include harmful attachments, such as infected documents, executable files, archives, ISO files, or scripts, that can infect a device when opened or when features like macros are enabled.

These emails can also contain links to untrustworthy or hijacked websites that attempt to automatically download malware or convince users to download it themselves. In most cases, a device becomes infected only if the recipient interacts with the malicious attachments or links.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Be cautious when dealing with emails or messages from unfamiliar senders, particularly if they contain attachments or links. If anything about a message seems unusual or untrustworthy, avoid opening its contents. When browsing dubious sites, avoid interacting with ads or pop-ups on shady websites, and decline any requests to enable notifications from such sites.

Stick to official websites and reputable app stores for downloading software or files, and avoid using pirated programs, cracks, and keygens. Keep your device protected by running routine scans with trusted security tools and ensuring your operating system and applications are always up to date.

Text presented in the "Pretpark Tours" email letter:

Subject: Pretpark Booking Inquiry

Hello Dear,

We are creating an itiniary for some of our clients

Attached below is details of our planned booking

Pretpark Booking Inquiry .docx

Your kind support and patience is really appreciated.

With kind regards

Max Hubens
Pretpark Tours
Voor de rit van je leven!
www.pretparktours.nl

Fake site used to steal login credentials:

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Quick menu:

• What is Pretpark Tours fake inquiry?
• 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?

Phishing emails are sent to multiple recipients rather than targeting individual users. Fraudsters gather email addresses from sources such as data breaches, fake registration forms, and other methods, and then distribute their scam messages.

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

If login credentials are compromised, passwords for all potentially affected accounts should be changed as soon as possible. For accounts that cannot be accessed, it is advisable to reach out to their support team.

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

The likelihood of malware infection varies by file type. Executable files like .exe can execute malware immediately when opened, while document files are generally safer unless macros are enabled, which can allow malware to enter systems.

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

Simply reading an email is safe. A device is at risk only when a user clicks on harmful links or opens malicious attachments.

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

Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most malware, but performing a full system scan is recommended to ensure any hidden or advanced threats are eliminated.