What is the "Your Payslip Is Available" email scam

What kind of email is "Your Payslip Is Available"?

We inspected this email and found it to be a phishing scam. The message pretends to be a payslip notification sent from an employer's payroll department. Its real goal is to steal email login credentials by directing recipients to a fake webmail page. The email should be ignored.

"Your Payslip Is Available" email scam overview

The email claims the recipient's latest payslip is ready to view in an employee portal. It urges them to click a "Login Here" button to access current and past payslips. The sender is listed as "Payroll Department," with no specific company identified.

Clicking the button leads to a fake cPanel Webmail login page hosted at officedeskego-dp8bsedoxuio.edgeone[.]dev. It asks visitors for their email address and password under the pretense of accessing an employee portal.

Any credentials entered on that page go straight to the scammers. With access to a victim's email account, criminals can read private messages, intercept password reset requests, and misuse the account to target the victim's contacts with further scams.

The payroll theme is deliberately chosen because employees tend to open payslip notifications quickly and without suspicion. The message contains no company name or personal detail, which points to it being sent to a large number of recipients at once.

Email scams in general

In summary, this email is a credential phishing scam disguised as a payslip notification from an employer. It seeks to steal email login details through a fake webmail page. Recipients should delete the message and avoid clicking any links it contains. It is also worth noting that scams of this kind are sometimes used to deliver malware.

More examples of similar phishing email scams are Account Security Notice, Crypto Wallet Validation, and LinkedIn Purchase Inquiry.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Threat actors often distribute malware by attaching malicious files to emails. These can include executable programs, Microsoft Office or PDF documents, ZIP and RAR archives, and script files. Running or opening such a file, or enabling malicious macro commands, can trigger malware installation on the device.

Spam emails can also include links that lead to sites downloading malware automatically, or that prompt users to download and run harmful files themselves. In most cases, the malware cannot activate without some action from the user, such as opening an attachment or clicking a link.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Treat unexpected emails with caution, especially those that urge immediate action. If a message appears to come from a company or service you use, visit that organisation's official website directly rather than clicking any links provided in the email.

Only download software from official developer websites or trusted app stores. Steer clear of pirated software, key generators, and unofficial "crack" tools, as these are frequently bundled with malware.

Keep your operating system and installed applications updated. Use reputable antivirus software and run regular scans. If you have already interacted with a suspicious email's content, we recommend scanning your system with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to check for and remove any installed threats.

Text presented in the "Your Payslip Is Available" email letter:

Subject: Monthly Payroll Notice

Your payslip is available

Dear [name],

Your latest payslip is now available in the employee portal.

Click the button below to log in and view current and past payslips.

[Login Here]

Kind regards

[company name] Limited

A fake webmail login page used in this scam:

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Quick menu:

• What is Your Payslip Is Available phishing scam?
• 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 messages are generic and distributed to large numbers of people at once. Scammers collect email addresses through data breaches, fake websites, and similar methods - receiving one does not mean you were individually targeted.

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

Change the password for your email account right away. Update any other accounts that share the same credentials. If additional sensitive information was disclosed, contact the relevant service providers or authorities as soon as possible.

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

This depends on the file type. Executable files tend to launch malware as soon as they are opened. Documents such as Word files or PDFs generally require additional user interaction, like enabling macros, before any malicious process can begin.

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

No. Simply reading or viewing an email is harmless. For an infection to occur, the user must interact with malicious content, such as opening an attachment or clicking a link. If you did not do either, your device is safe.

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

Yes, Combo Cleaner can detect and remove most known malware. That said, a full system scan is essential to ensure thorough coverage, as some sophisticated threats may be harder to detect without one.