How to spot scams like "Wells Fargo - Unauthorized Charges"

What is "Wells Fargo - Unauthorized Charges" scam?

Our team has examined the message and found it to be a fraudulent email notification claiming to be from Wells Fargo, a legitimate financial services company. It is designed to trick recipients into opening a fake website and disclosing personal details. Falling for this scam can result in account hijacking and further problems.

More about the "Wells Fargo - Unauthorized Charges" scam email

This phishing email claims to be an official notification from Wells Fargo regarding a reversal of an "unauthorized charges" claim. It suggests that a transaction dispute has been processed and marked as completed. The message is presented as a routine automated banking confirmation to appear legitimate.

The link/button in this email (labeled "Completed") directs recipients to a fake Wells Fargo website designed to steal usernames and passwords (login details). If stolen, this information can be used to access banking accounts. Scammers can exploit this access to make fraudulent purchases or transactions and steal information.

Also, they may attempt to use the stolen login details to access social media, email, gaming, or other platforms. If successful, they may be able to steal money or identities, spread scams, distribute malware, and take other malicious actions using stolen accounts. Thus, this deceptive message should be ignored.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a phishing attempt designed to impersonate Wells Fargo. Its goal is to trick recipients into clicking a malicious link that leads to a fake login page intended to steal banking credentials. The message should be ignored and not interacted with, as it can result in account compromise, identity theft, and financial loss.

Sometimes, victims of such scams may experience computer infections. Here are examples of similar scams: "Wix Subscription Renewal", "Shared Excel Sheet", and "Cloud Files Are Scheduled For Permanent Deletion".

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Malicious software is often spread through email by hiding it inside files that appear safe, such as MS Office or PDF documents, archives (e.g., ZIP or RAR files), scripts, or executable files. Once a user opens the attachment or activates certain features like macros, the malware is launched and infects the device.

In other cases, a deceptive email contains links that redirect to harmful (or stolen) websites. These pages may automatically trigger a download or persuade the user to execute malware manually.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Software should be downloaded exclusively from official pages or verified app stores, and avoid pirated/cracked programs, cracking tools, and key generators. Users should also stay cautious when interacting with email content, particularly attachments or links from unknown or unexpected sources.

Also, it is important to avoid questionable websites and to steer clear of pop-ups, advertisements, and unfamiliar links and buttons encountered on them. In addition, keeping operating systems and applications up to date and regularly using trusted security software for system scans is advisable.

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

Subject: Confirmation of your reversal

Wells Fargo

Unauthorized Charges Claim

Dear -,

Confirmation of your unauthorized transaction charges claim reversal.

Completed

Thank you for banking with Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo Online Customer Service

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 - Unauthorized Charges phishing attempt?
• 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 typically distribute the same message to many recipients at once. They collect email addresses from data breaches, deceptive websites, or other sources where contact information has been exposed or harvested.

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

If account login details have been exposed, passwords should be updated. If sensitive financial or identity information has been compromised, the relevant banks, service providers, or institutions should be notified as soon as possible, and authorities contacted when necessary.

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

The risk of malware infection varies depending on the type of file involved and how the user interacts with it. For example, executable files can compromise a system as soon as they are launched. Document files are usually only dangerous if additional features like macros are enabled by the user.

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

Simply opening an email does not infect a device. Infection usually happens only when the user clicks on malicious links or opens downloaded (and infected) attachments.

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

Combo Cleaner can identify and eliminate most known security threats. However, certain sophisticated infections may be designed to evade detection. For this reason, running a complete system scan is advisable.