What kind of scam is "Bank of America - Merchant Charges Refund"

What is "Bank of America - Merchant Charges Refund" scam?

We have inspected the email and found that it is a phishing message disguised as an official notification from Bank of America about an approved merchant charges refund. The email is designed to trick recipients into visiting a fraudulent website and entering their online banking credentials. It should be ignored to avoid having your account compromised.

More about the "Bank of America - Merchant Charges Refund" scam email

The email claims that Bank of America has completed an investigation into unrecognized merchant charges on the recipient's account and approved a refund. It urges the recipient to click a button labeled "Review and accept approval" to view the supposed claim, creating the impression that money is waiting to be collected.

Near the bottom, the message includes a disclaimer stating that it is a survey email sent on behalf of Bank of America through Medallia, Inc., a company that genuinely partners with various businesses to run customer surveys. Scammers often add text like this to borrow legitimacy from real corporate practices and make the email look more convincing.

The website linked in this email is no longer active, so its exact content could not be captured. Judging by the email's design and similar bank-themed phishing campaigns, it was very likely built to imitate Bank of America's online phishing login page and collect the credentials entered by visitors.

Entering banking credentials on such a page hands them directly to the scammers, who can use them to access the victim's real account, make unauthorized transactions, or sell the stolen information to other criminals. This can lead to direct financial loss and long-term identity theft issues.

It is also worth noting that the email was sent from an address with no connection to Bank of America's official domain, a common trait of phishing emails impersonating financial institutions. Bank of America is not associated with this scam in any way, and the company has no part in distributing these fraudulent messages.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this email is a phishing scam disguised as an approved merchant charges refund notification from Bank of America. It aims to steal online banking credentials through a fraudulent website. Recipients should ignore the email and avoid clicking the button or entering any information to protect themselves from financial loss and identity theft.

Sometimes, scams like this are used to deliver malware.

More examples of similar scam emails are Polymarket Member Access Invitation, Bank Of America Card Locked, and Authenticate Your Domain Account.

How do spam campaigns infect computers?

Threat actors often deliver malware via email by including malicious attachments. These can be executable files, Office documents, archives, PDFs, script files, and other formats. Opening these files or enabling certain features, like macros, can allow the malware to infect the device.

Emails may also include links to malicious websites. Visiting these sites can either trigger automatic downloads of malware or trick users into manually downloading and running harmful programs. Typically, malware requires the user to interact with these attachments or links in order to compromise the system.

How to avoid installation of malware?

Be cautious with emails, attachments, and links received from unknown or suspicious senders, especially ones that create urgency around money, refunds, or account problems. Verify such claims directly through the official website or phone number of the company involved, never through links provided in the email itself.

Download software only from official sources, keep the operating system and installed applications updated, and avoid pirated software, cracks, and key generators, as these are common channels for malware distribution. Using reputable antivirus software adds another layer of protection.

If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Text presented in the "Bank of America - Merchant Charges Refund" email letter:

Subject: Completed: Reviww and sign merchant charges reversal

Bank of America

Dear ********,

We're informing you of your recently approved merchant charges refund. We completed our investigation on your unrecognized merchant charges, and have sent you important information about your claim

[Review and accept approval]

This is a survey email from Bank of America. Bank of America has contracted with Medallia, Inc. to conduct this survey which will help us better serve you

Instant automatic malware removal:

Manual threat removal might be a lengthy and complicated process that requires advanced IT skills. Combo Cleaner is a professional automatic malware removal tool that is recommended to get rid of malware. Download it by clicking the button below:

By downloading any software listed on this website you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by RCS LT, the parent company of PCRisk.com.

Quick menu:

• What is Bank Of America - Merchant Charges Refund 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?

Cybercriminals send deceptive emails to large groups of people, using addresses gathered from data breaches, fake websites, and similar sources. These messages are usually generic and not targeted at any specific individual.

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

Change any passwords that may have been exposed as soon as possible, especially your online banking password. If banking or identification details were also entered, contact Bank of America directly through its official phone number.

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

Executable files often launch malicious programs the moment they are opened, whereas documents, archives, or other file types generally require an additional action from the user, such as enabling macros, before any infection begins.

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

No. Deceptive emails are harmless until a user clicks a link, opens a file, or otherwise interacts with their content in a way that lets the malicious payload run. Reading the email alone does not infect a device.

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

Combo Cleaner is capable of detecting and removing a wide range of malware, though more advanced threats may occasionally evade detection. Performing a full system scan helps improve the likelihood of identifying and eliminating any threats present.