How to spot scams like "Wells Fargo - Merchant Charges Refund"

What kind of scam is "Wells Fargo - Merchant Charges Refund"?

Our team has inspected the email and found that it is disguised as a confirmation letter from Wells Fargo, a legitimate financial services company. The scammers behind it seek to steal information through a fake website. Emails like this are classified as phishing attempts. They should be recognized and ignored.

More about the "Wells Fargo - Merchant Charges Refund" scam email

The email informs the recipient that a refund for merchant charges has been approved. It states that the bank (Wells Fargo) has completed an investigation into supposed unrecognized transaction charges and has issued "important information" regarding the claim.

The message urges the recipient to review and sign a claim approval by clicking a provided link labeled "Review Claim Approval". It also states that it is an electronically generated notice. Clicking the included link leads to a fake Wells Fargo login website designed to steal usernames and passwords.

Fraudsters can misuse these details to try to access Wells Fargo accounts. Once inside, they may steal money, make fraudulent purchases, and gather personal information. Also, they may try to access other accounts (e.g., social media or email) using the pilfered login credentials. This could lead to identity theft, reputational damage, and other negative consequences.

Therefore, recipients should always examine suspicious emails and never disclose information on unofficial pages or similar platforms.

Similar scam emails in general

Scam emails like this are designed to appear urgent and legitimate. Their goal is to trick recipients into clicking on malicious links and entering sensitive details on fake websites. If successful, fraudsters can gain unauthorized access to accounts. Sometimes, they can trick users into infecting their devices.

Additional examples of scam emails are "Wells Fargo Credit/Refund", "PayPal - Access From A New Device", and "Social Security Administration (SSA) eStatement".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malicious software is commonly spread through email attachments that seem legitimate, including Word or Excel documents, PDFs, scripts, archives, or executables. Once the recipient opens the file or enables features like macros, malware can compromise the device.

Cybercriminals also use links in emails that direct users to fraudulent or compromised websites. These pages may automatically initiate a download or manipulate the user into manually downloading (and launching) infected software or files.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Users should be cautious with email attachments or links, especially if the message is unexpected or irrelevant. Keeping operating systems, browsers, and security software up to date is also advised. Devices should be scanned for threats regularly using reputable antivirus or anti-malware tools.

Additionally, users should get apps and files from official websites or app stores, never use pirated software, cracking tools, or key generators, and avoid interacting with links, ads, and other content on shady sites.

Text presented in the "Wells Fargo - Merchant Charges Refund" email letter:

Subject: Confirmation of your merchant charges refund

Wells Fargo

Confirmation of your merchant charges refund

Dear ********,

We're informing you of your recently approved merchant charges refund. We have completed our investigation on your unrecognized transaction charges claim, and have sent you important information about your claim. Follow the prompt below to review and sign claim approval

Review Claim Approval

Electronically generated for ********

wellsfargo.com | Security Center
Please do not reply to this automated email.

Fake website used in this scam:

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Quick menu:

• What is Wells Fargo - Merchant Charges Refund 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?

Fraudsters send the same message to many people simultaneously. They usually collect email addresses from exposed databases/data leaks and fraudulent or misleading websites.

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

If login credentials are exposed, they need to be changed. If sensitive personal or financial information has been stolen, affected service providers and the proper authorities should be informed.

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

Running a malicious executable can result in an instant system compromise. In contrast, PDF or Word files typically do not cause infection unless specific features, such as macros, are activated. The probability of an infection depends on the file format and what actions are taken.

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

Opening or reading an email does not harm a device. Malware cannot infiltrate unless malicious files or links are opened.

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

Combo Cleaner is capable of finding and eliminating the majority of malware. Advanced threats can sometimes embed themselves deeper in the system. Because of this, running a full system scan is recommended.