PHISHING INDEX

Below are the most common email phishing attempts detected by TG Soft's Anti-Malware Research Center in November 2023:

29/11/2023 => DHL
29/11/2023 => Smishing - il tuo pacco è stato consegnato (Your package has been delivered)
23/11/2023 => PEC Polizia Provinciale  (Provincial Police Certified Email)
17/11/2023 => Subito
17/11/2023 => Agenzia delle Entrate (Revenue Agency)
16/11/2023 => Aruba - Disattivazione casella (Mailbox deactivation)
15/11/2023 => Mooney
14/11/2023 => Account di Posta elettronica (Email Account)
13/11/2023 => Zimbra
13/11/2023 => Istituto Bancario (Bank)
13/11/2023 => Agenzia delle Entrate (Revenue Agency)
09/11/2023 => Aruba
07/11/2023 => SexTortion
06/11/2023 => Smishing Nexi
02/11/2023 => Aruba
01/11/2023 => Istituto Bancario (Bank)

These emails are intended to trick some unfortunate person into providing sensitive data - such as bank account information, credit card codes or personal login credentials - with all the possible easily imaginable consequences.

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• Acknowledgements

• How to send suspicious emails for analysis

November 29, 2023 ==> Phishing DHL

«SUBJECT:< DHL: Tax Payment Needed for Package Release Ref#1588968>

The following is a new phishing attempt, which is presented as a false notification of a package delivery by DHL.


Receive the package

November 29, 2023 ==> Smishing ''Il tuo pacco è stato consegnato'' (Your package has been delivered)

We analyze below a new theft attempt at sensitive data, that comes through a deceptive text message.

November 23, 2023 ==> Phishing via PEC Polizia Provinciale (Phishing via

Provincial Police Certified Email )

SUBJECT: <Rapporto sinistro n 417/2023 del 19/08/2023> (Accident report n 417/2023 dated 19/08/2023)

Beware of the following phishing attempt - a fake communication from the Polizia Provinciale di Pescara, (Pescara Provincial Police) - reported also on the Police official website.

The message, with number and date, notifies the recipient of an accident report, supposedly involving him or her and seemingly signed by the"Uff. Infortunistica" (Accident Office) of the Pescara Police Department. It then invites the victim to view the report, by opening the attachment:

"VERBALE SINISTRO.pdf" (ACCIDENT REPORT.pdf)

Analyzing the text, it seemingly comes from the very PEC (Certified Email) address of the Province of Pescara <******(at)pec(dot)provincia(dot)pescara(dot)it>. Clearly the public authority is unrelated to the mass sending of these emails, which are real scams whose goal remains, as always, to steal sensitive data of the unsuspecting recipient.

Anyone who unluckily clicks on the attachment, will be redirected to the displayed page.
First of all, the landing page does not refer to the accident report mentioned, but hosts the login form to log in to Aruba's RESTRICTED AREA, where you are directly asked to enter your credentials....
Moreover the url address shown on the broswer bar is not from from Aruba's official domain:

https[:]//webarubaloginemailitalia[.]com/i/account.....

We therefore urge you not to click too quickly on links when you receive this kind of message, and to pay attention to every detail, even trivial ones.
If you enter the requested data, in this case e-mail account data, the information will be delivered to the cyber criminals responsible for the scam, who will use it for criminal purposes.

November 17, 2023 ==> Phishing Subito

«SUBJECT: < hai messaggi non ricevuti sul sito subito > (you have unreceived messages on the  "subito" website)

Here is a new phishing attempt, coming as a fake communication from Subito.it.

The message informs the recipient about unreceived messages, related to his or her ads on Subito.it., due to account blocked by spam.
It then warns him/her that, in order to unblock his mailbox, he/she needs to contact the technical support, through the following link:

Cliccando qui (Clicking here)

Clearly, the well-known free ads company Subito.it., is unrelated to the mass sending of these emails, which are real scams whose goal remains, as always, to steal sensitive data of the unsuspecting recipient.

Analyzing the text of the message, we notice right away that the sender's e-mail address <emailserviz(at)subito(dot)it> might mislead an inexperienced user, but it is not from the official domain of Subito.it..

Anyone who unluckily clicks on the Cliccando qui  (Clicking here) link, will be redirected to an anomalous WEB page which, as we can see from the side image, does not contain any reference to Subito.it. Moreover we see that it is hosted on an anomalous address/domain, reported below:

https[:]//tawk[.]to/chat/64baa650cc26a871.....

We always urge you to be careful and not to enter your personal data and/or passwords on forms hosted on counterfeit web pages, as they will be sent to a remote server, and used by cyber crooks with all the associated, easily imaginable, risks.

November 16, 2023 ==> Phishing Aruba - Disattivazione casella e-mail (Mailbox deactivation)

SUBJECT: <Disattivazione casella e-mail per scadenza dominio xxx@xxx> (Mailbox deactivation due to xxx@xxx domain expiration )

During November, phishing attempts pretending to be communications from the Aruba brand, continued.

The message informs the recipient that his/her domain hosted on Aruba, and linked to his/her e-mail account, will expire on 16/11/2023. It then notifies him/her to renew his/her services manually, in order to avoid the deletion of the account, and the deactivation of all services associated with it, including mailboxes (so he/she can continue receiving and sending messages).
It then invites the user to log in, via the following link, to renew services,:

RINNOVA IL DOMINIO (RENEW THE DOMAIN)

Clearly, the well-known web hosting, e-mail and domain registration services company Aruba, is unrelated to the mass sending of these e-mails, which are real scams whose goal remains, as always, to steal sensitive data of the unsuspecting recipient.

If we analyze the text of the message, we notice right away that the sender's e-mail address <postmaster(at)onedk(dot)net> , is not from Aruba's official domain.
In order to induce the victim to proceed with the renewal of his mailbox in a timely manner, the expiration date of 16/11/2023 is indicated, which incidentally corresponds to the reception date of the email... therefore there is not much time left to carry out the renewal and prevent the deactivation of services. The technique of indicating a deadline within which the procedure must be concluded, is intended to urge the user to act immediately and without much thought.
Anyone who unluckily clicks on the link, will be redirected to the displayed page.
As we can see, first of all the landing page - unlike what we should expect - does not refer to Aruba's LOGIN RESERVED AREA, but hosts an online payment form, seemingly relying on BancaSella's circuit. Here we are directly asked to enter our credit card details to pay the modest amount of Euro 5.42.....
Although the hurry and the fear of mailbox suspension may push the user to quickly conclude the operation, if we look at the url address on the browser bar, we realize that the payment form is not on the official domain of Aruba or even BancaSella:

https[:]//arubahost[.]assistenzastaff[.]net/xL6432....

We therefore urge you not to hurry when you find this kind of email, and pay attention to every detail, even trivial ones.
By proceeding to enter the requested data - in this case credit card information - this information will be delivered to the cyber criminals behind the scam, who will use it for illegal purposes.

November 15, 2023 ==> Phishing Mooney

SUBJECT: < Le nostre condizioni di utilizzo sono cambiate. È necessario un aggiornamento immediato! > (Our terms of use have changed. An immediate update is needed!)
 
Below we analyze the following phishing attempt, coming as a false communication from Mooney, the Italian Proximity Banking & Payments company.

The message informs the recipient that he/she needs to update his or her personal data "in accordance with the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). From now on, strong authentication is required for all our customers every 90 calendar days."
It then invites him/her to update his/her profile, through the following link:

Autenticazione (Authentication)

This time the phishing campaign simulates a communication  from the Italian online payment company  Mooney, which is clearly unrelated to the mass sending of these emails, that are real scams whose goal remains, as always, to steal sensitive data of the unsuspecting recipient.


Analyzing the text of the message, we notice right away an e-mail address that could mislead an inexperienced user, but that does not come from  Mooney's official domain since a label <customer service(at)mooney(dot)it> was probably used. Although the cybercriminal had the foresight to include the well-known company logo, we should always pay close attention before clicking on suspicious links.


Anyone who unluckily clicks on the Autenticazione (Authentication) link, will be redirected to an anomalous WEB page, not referable to  Mooney's official website, but that has already been reported as a DECEPTIVE WEBSITE/PAGE. In fact it is run by cyber-criminals, whose goal is to get hold of your most valuable data, in order to use them for illegal purposes.

November 14, 2023 ==> Phishing Account Posta Elettronica (Email Account)

SUBJECT:<Your account ***** password expire today>

We analyze below the phishing attempt that aims to steal the victim's e-mail account credentials.

The message, in English, informs the recipient that his/her mailbox password is expiring, and if he/she doesn't change the password within 3 hours after opening this email, it will be changed automatically. It then invites the victim to keep his/her password, using the following link:

Keep Current Password

If we analyze the email, we notice that the email address of the message <hosting(at)oxbridgefinance(dot)com(dot)au> is not traceable to the mailbox server. This is definitely anomalous and should, at the very least, make us suspicious.

Anyone who unluckily clicks on the Keep Current Password
link, will be redirected to an anomalous WEB page which, as you can see from the image on the side, is not referable to the e-mail account provider.
The page you are redirected to, asking for your mail account credentials, is hosted on an anomalous address/domain, reported below:

https[:]//fleek[.]ipfs[.]io/ipfs/QmNvxkzXwBmc6d4LG3a9M39s9.....

We always urge you to be careful, and avoid entering your personal data and/or passwords on forms hosted on counterfeit web pages, as they will be sent to a remote server and used by cyber crooks with all the associated, easily imaginable, risks.

November 13, 2023 ==> Phishing Zimbra

SUBJECT: <Centro Assistenza> (Service Center)

This month we find a new phishing attempt pretending to be a communication from the Zimbra brand.

The message informs the recipient that, due to an update on Zimbra's servers, he/she needs to update his/her account to avoid its suspension. This is done to increase the security level of services.
It then invites the user to log in to update his or her account, via the following link:

Clicca qui (Click here)

Clearly, the well-known Zimbra application software company, is unrelated to the mass sending of these emails, which are true scams whose goal remains, as always, to steal sensitive data of the unsuspecting recipient.

Analyzing the text of the message, we notice right away that the sender's e-mail address <vacina(at)tapes(dot)rs(do)gov(dot)br> is not from the official domain of Zimbra.

Anyone who unluckily clicks on the link will be redirected to the displayed page.

As we can see, first of all the landing page where we are redirected is graphically well laid out, and may lead the victim to think that he or she is on the Zimbra page.
The account management login page, however, is hosted on an anomalous address/domain that cannot be related to Zimbra's official domain, and which we report below:


https[:]//firebasestorage[.]googleapis[.]com/v0/b/uueiimiwoowoui903[.]appspot[.]com.....

We therefore urge you, in case of email, not to act hastily and to pay attention to every detail, even trivial ones.
If you enter the requested data - in this case e-mail account information - they will be delivered to the cyber criminals creating the scam, who will use them for criminal purposes.

November 13, 2023 ==> Phishing Istituto Bancario (Bank)

SUBJECT: <Trasferimento di credito > (Credit transfer)

The following is another phishing campaign, that spreads through an e-mail exploiting stolen graphics or similar to the graphics of a well-known national banking institution. Hence it tries to pass itself off as an official communication, in order to induce the unsuspecting recipient to enter his data, and fall into a social engineering trap.

The Banking Institution, of course, is clearly unrelated to the mass sending of these phishing campaigns. However, if in doubt, we also urge you to check the Bank's official website, which often warns of attempted scams exploiting its brand.

November 13 - 17, 2023 ==> Phishing Agenzia delle Entrate (Revenue Agency)

SUBJECT: <Avviso Raccomandata #AR3099****>(Registered Mail notice #AR3099****)

Below we analyze another phishing attempt, that shows up through a fake message from Agenzia delle Entrate  (Revenue Agency).

The message informs the recipient that a new notification addressed to him is available, with the following information:

    • Ente Emittente: Agenzia delle Entrate  (Issuing Body:  Revenue Agency)
    • Titolare: indirizzo email del ricevente (Holder: Receiver Email)
    • Soggetto: Notifica Amministrativa (Subject: Administrative Notification)
    • Protocollo n.: AR3099****  (Protocol No.: AR3099****)
Analyzing the alert, we can notice first of all its anomalous email address i.e. <agency[.]revenue(at)vvstjoost(dot)nl> which is not hosted on the official website domain of Agenzia delle Entrate (Revenue Agency).
The notice is also very generic; in fact, is directed to '''Gentile contribuente'' (Dear Taxpayer) without reporting his/her first and last name. Not even in  the administrative notification  we find  references about the Holder, but only the email address of the recipient is given, which is certainly not identifying information for tax purposes.
Two links are then provided below, to access the notification:
"https[:]//www[.]agenziaentrateriscossione[.]gov[.]it/it"
"notifica"
They both redirect to the link:
https://navadvisoryllc[.]com...
 That is definitely suspect.
Anyone who unluckily clicks on the links will be redirected to a counterfeit web page that has nothing to do with the official website of the Agenzia delle Entrate  (Revenue Service).

The landing page has already been reported as a DECEPTIVE PAGE/WEBSITE, since it is run by cyber criminals, whose goal is to get hold of your most valuable data, in order to use them for criminal purposes.

November 09, 2023 ==> Phishing Aruba

SUBJECT: <Dominio in scadenza, per rinnovare?> (Expiring domain, to renew?)

Here we find again this month another phishing attempt coming as false communication from Aruba.

The message alerts the receiver that his/her domain, hosted on Aruba, is expiring on 09/11/2023. The victim is then requested to renew the domain to avoid the deletion of the account and the deactivation of all services associated with it, including the use of messages of the mailbox. The renewal procedure is simple and automatic, and can be done fully autonomously from the link given below:

RINNOVA (RENEW)

Clearly, the well-known web hosting, e-mail and domain registration services company Aruba, is unrelated to the mass sending of these e-mails, which are real scams whose goal remains, as always, to steal sensitive data of the unsuspecting recipient.

Analyzing the text of the message, we notice right away that the sender's e-mail address is not from the official domain of Aruba, but a label is used to hide the sender.

Anyone who unluckily clicks on the link RINNOVA (RENEW), will be redirected to an anomalous WEB page, not referable to Aruba's official website, but that has already been reported as a DECEPTIVE WEBSITE/PAGE because it is run by cyber-criminals, whose goal is to get hold of your most valuable data, in order to use them for illegal purposes.

November 07, 2023 ==> SexTortion

This month we find the SexTortion-themed SCAM campaign again. The e-mail seems to suggest that the fraudster has accessed the victim's device and, as alleged proof of the breach, the cyber criminal points out that the e-mail comes from the victim's own e-mail address. In these cases the address is simulated with labels to pretend a breach in the victim's account. The criminal uses this deception to then blackmail him, requesting a sum of money in  Bitcoin, not to divulge among his email and social contacts a private video of him looking at adult sites. The alleged password of the victim's account is also given as further evidence of the breach.

The following is an extract from the text of the email on the side:

" Sadly, there are some bad news that you are about to hear. About few months ago I have gained a full access to all devices used by you for internet browsing. Shortly after, I started recording all internet activities done by you. Below is the sequence of events of how that happened: Earlier I purchased from hackers a unique access to diversified email accounts (at the moment, it is eally easy to do using Internet). As you can see, I managed to log in to your email account without breaking a sweat: (****). Here is the proof I hacked this email. Your password at the time when I got access to your email:(***). Within one week afterwards, I installed a Trojan virus in your Operating Systems available on all devices that you utilize for logging in your email. To be frank, it was somewhat a very easy task (since you were kind enough to open some of links provided in your inbox emails). I know, you may be thinking now that I’m a genius. With help of that useful software, I am now able to gain access to all the controllers located in your devices (e.g. video camera, keyboard, microphone and others). As result I managed to download all your photos, personal data, history of web browsing and other info to my servers without any problems. Moreover, I now have access to all accounts in your messengers, social networks, emails, contact list, chat history – you name it...During the process of your personal info compilation , I could not help but notice that you are a huge admirer and regular guest of websites with adult content… in case if you still have doubts, all I need is to click my mouse and all those nasty videos with you will be shared to friends, collegues and relatives of yours."

Next the victim is asked to send $1290 USD in Bitcoin to the wallet listed below:"17ycXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXWaZ'.After receiving the transaction all data will be deleted, otherwise a video depicting the user, will be sent to all colleagues, friends and relatives, the unfortunate person has 48 hours to make the payment!

Analyzing the payments made on the wallets in the various SexTortion campaigns found this month by our Research Center, we report the transactions recorded as of the date of 22/11/2023:

Wallet "17ycXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXWaZ" amount requested 1290 USD => No transactions found
Wallet "1EV3XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX9i7" amount requested 400 USD => results in a transaction worth 447.50 USD
Wallet "15PjXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXE3Q" somma richiesta 1800 USD => No transactions found

In such cases we always urge you:

1. not to respond to these kinds of emails and not to open attachments or click lines containing unsafe links, and certainly NOT to send any money. You can safely ignore or delete them..
2. If the criminal reports an actual user’s password – usually it is a password obtained from public Leaks (compromised data theft) of official sites occurred in the past (e.g., LinkedIn, Yahoo, etc.) - it is recommended to:
   • Get experienced personnel to perform checks. Researchers and Analysts from the Anti Malware Research Center #CRAM of TG Soft, are available to perform consultative verification activities of potentially compromised PCs / Servers;
   • only after this verification by qualified personnel experienced in spy viruses and/or malware also and especially new generation, and once you have cleaned up the machine, it is absolutely necessary to change the passwords of the web services in use on the pc.

November 06, 2023 ==> Smishing Nexi

We analyze below a new smishing attempt, behind a fake text message from Nexi.

November 02, 2023 ==> Phishing Aruba

SUBJECT: <Non è stato possibile consegnare il tuo messaggio.risolvi ora.> (Your message could not be delivered.Resolve now)

We find again this month a phishing attempt that comes as a false communication from Aruba.

The message informs the recipient that there are 2 new messages that were not delivered correctly to his mail account due to the new incoming mail regulation policy of the account whose domain appears to be hosted on Aruba. It then says that it is necessary to retrieve the outstanding messages through the following link:

Clicca qui per recuperare il messaggio
  (Click here to retrieve the message)

Clearly, the well-known web hosting, e-mail and domain registration services company, Aruba is unrelated to the mass sending of these e-mails, which are real scams whose goal remains, as always, to steal sensitive data of the unsuspecting recipient.

Analyzing the text of the message, we notice right away that the sender's e-mail address is not from the official domain of Aruba.

Anyone who unluckily clicks on the link Clicca qui per recuperare il messaggio
(Click here to retrieve the message) will be redirected to an anomalous WEB page.

November 01, 2023 ==> Phishing Istituto Bancario (BANK)

SUBJECT: <[Aggiornamento] > (Update)

The following is another phishing campaign, that spreads through an e-mail exploiting stolen graphics or similar to the graphics of a well-known national banking institution. Hence it tries to pass itself off as an official communication, in order to induce the unsuspecting recipient to enter his/her data, and fall into a social engineering trap.

A little bit of attention and glance, can save a lot of hassles and headaches..

We urge you NOT to be fooled by these types of e-mails, which, even though they use familiar and not particularly sophisticated approach techniques, if there is a resurgence, with reasonable likelihood more than a few unfortunates will be fooled
 
We invite you to check the following information on Phishing techniques for more details:

03/10/2023 16:35 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in October 2023...
05/09/2023 10:35 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in September 2023....
01/08/2023 17:33 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in August 2023...
03/07/2023 10:23 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in July 2023...
07/06/2023 15:57 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in  June 2023...
03/05/2023 17:59 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in  May2023...
05/04/2023 17:34 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in April2023...
03/03/2023 16:54 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in  March 2023..
06/02/2023 17:29 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in  February 2023...
02/01/2023 15:28 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in  January 2023...
02/12/2022 15:04 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in  December 2022..
04/11/2022 17:27 - Phishing: the most common credential and/or data theft attempts in November 2022....

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Acknowledgements

TG Soft's Anti-Malware Research Center would like to thank all users, customers, reseller technicians, and all people who have transmitted/reported material attributable to Phishing activities to our Research Center, that allowed us to make this information as complete as possible.

How to submit suspicious emails for analysis as possible phishing but also virus/malware or Crypto-Malware

You can submit materials to TG Soft's Anti-Malware Research Center safely and free of charge in two ways:

1. any suspect email can be sent directly by the recipient's e-mail, to the following mail lite@virit.com,choosing as sending mode "Forward as Attachment" and inserting in the subject section "Possible phishing page to verify" rather than "Possible Malware to verify";
2. save the e-mail to be sent to TG Soft's C.R.A.M. for analysis as an external file to the e-mail program used. The resulting file must be sent by uploading it from the page Send Suspicious Files (http://www.tgsoft.it/italy/file_sospetti.asp). Obviously if you want a feedback on the analysis of the data submitted, you have to indicate an e-mail address and a brief description of the reason for the submission (for example: possiible / probable phishing; possible / probable malware or other)

For more details on how to safely forward suspicious e-mails, we invite you to consult the following public page: How to send suspicious emails for analysis
We provide all this information to help you prevent credential theft, viruses/malware or, even worse, next-generation Ransomware / Crypto-Malware.


TG Soft's C.R.A.M. (Anti-Malware Research Center)