How to recognize scams like "Dubai Pay - Refund Claim"

What is the fake "Dubai Pay - Refund Claim" email?

Our inspection of the email has revealed that it is a scam. This fraudulent scheme involves a fake invoice and the impersonation of a legitimate company. The goal is to steal sensitive information through a deceptive website. Falling for this scam can lead to financial losses and other issues.

More about the "Dubai Pay - Refund Claim" scam email

This scam email is disguised as a message from DubaiPay, a legitimate payment gateway offered as a shared service to government entities and service providers. It states that the recipient has submitted a refund request for 628.90 AED, which is pending review. It provides a fake transaction number and payment reference and instructs the recipient to click a link to complete the refund process.

The email warns that the refund will be issued within 5–7 business days if eligible and provides a phone number and email for support. The goal of the email is to trick the recipient into clicking the link and revealing personal information. The link (labeled "View Refund") leads to a fake DubaiPay website.

On that site, visitors are instructed to enter their credit card details, such as the card number, expiry date, and CVV number, to get a "refund". However, once those details are entered and the "Refund" option is clicked, a fake error appears, and the provided details are sent to scammers.

Scammers can use stolen credit card details to make unauthorized online purchases. They can also sell the card information to other criminals or use the card for subscriptions or digital services. Thus, falling for this scam can result in monetary loss and possibly other issues, such as identity theft.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this scam email tricks recipients into believing they are receiving a legitimate refund from DubaiPay. Its main aim is to steal credit card details through a fake website. Being cautious and not clicking suspicious links is essential to avoid becoming a victim of scams.

More examples of scam emails are "Your Mailbox Needs Attention Email Scam", "You Are Not Permitted To Send Messages Email Scam", and "Mail Services Notification - Delivery Delay Notice Email Scam". In some cases, fraudulent emails can be used trick recipients into infecting their computers.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Threat actors often use fake emails to deliver malware, either through attachments or links. Attachments may appear as ordinary files like Word, Excel, PDF, or as executables, script files, and archives, but opening them (or performing additional steps) can lead to malware infiltration.

Links in these emails can take users to untrustworthy (or compromised) websites that try to download malware automatically or trick users into downloading and running it. Usually, the malware only affects the device if the user interacts with the malicious content.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Users should only download software from trusted sources, such as official pages or reputable app stores, and avoid pirated programs, cracks, or key generators. It is also important to keep the operating system and applications up to date and to run scans with reliable security tools.

Unexpected emails or messages from unknown senders should be treated with caution, and any links or attachments should not be opened. Ads, links, pop-ups, buttons, or other elements on suspicious websites should be ignored, and notifications from these sites should not be accepted.

Appearance of the fake DubaiPay website, dubaidigital[.]me (GIF):

Text presented in the "Dubai Pay - Refund Claim" email letter:

Subject: Recent Transaction Invoice #96741

Dubai Pay

Dear Customer,

We have received your Refund claim request. Below are the details of your request:
Status
Refund‎ Claim Received – Pending Review
Service Refund
Claimed‎ Amount 628.90‎ AED‎
Service Provider Transaction No 129521287
Payment Reference No 0000000019931495
View Refund

What‎ Happens‎ Next?
After clicking the‎ button above, you will be guided through the‎ Refund‎ process. If eligible, your Refund will be issued to the original Payment method within 5–7 business days.
Support Need help? Call 600560000 or email help@digitaldubai.ae

Thank you for using Dubai Pay.
Have a great day!

This is a system-generated message. Please do not reply to this email.

The official DubaiPay page (digitaldubai.ae):

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Quick menu:

• What is Dubai Pay - Refund Claim fake 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?

These emails are usually not personalized since they are sent to large numbers of recipients at the same time. The email addresses are often obtained from data leaks, suspicious websites, or using other techniques.

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

If an account may have been compromised, users should immediately change the password to secure it and notify the appropriate authorities if sensitive information like credit card or ID details are stolen by scammers.

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

The risk of infection varies based on the file type and the user's actions. Executable files or scripts can infect a system immediately when opened. Documents and other files are usually safe unless the user enables features such as macros.

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

Infections typically occur only when a user clicks a link, opens an attachment, or interacts with content that runs malicious code.

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

Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most threats, but more sophisticated or deeply hidden malware may require a full system scan for complete removal.