The Insolvency Service scam emails

In a bid to implement a new phishing model, cybercriminals have recently launched an email scam campaign abusing the Insolvency Service agency’s name.

Business owners in the UK are confronted with a new massive scam wave revolving around false corporate misconduct. Online fraudsters have been sending rogue Company Investigations Inquiry Reminders (Notifications or Notices) purportedly on behalf of the Insolvency Service, a well-known British executive body. These emails look fairly plausible because they contain the agency’s logo and such technicalities as the list of reasons for the investigation and the recipient’s inquiry number. The executives of targeted companies are being intimidated by the following phrase, “We can apply to the court to wind up the company and stop it trading.” At the very least, such statements call forth apprehension of running out of business and encourage victims to look into the case and learn more details. At this point, the phishing part of the hoax comes into play.

The hyperlink saying “INQUIRY INFORMATION” is the main catch in this whole hype. Having clicked on it, users end up on a page that requires them to enter a captcha combination before they can visit the supposed site with details of the imputed misconduct. This tactic is probably intended to add more authenticity to the fraudulent mix. However, as soon as the code is entered and submitted, an offending script on the page will download a ZIP archive with JS file in it. The goal of this malicious JavaScript is to run another object on the user’s machine. The combo of ZIP and JS has become notorious with the rise of crypto ransomware, posing the most widespread contamination vector. That being said, the obfuscated script can execute arbitrary code, not necessarily ransom Trojans. One way or another, it’s clear that the Insolvency Service email scam aims at depositing malicious software on PCs.

The genuine organization has already published an email scam warning on its official page, emphasizing that the messages are bogus and that recipients must not click on any links in them. Overall, email hoaxes impersonating UK government departments are popular with cybercrooks. The HMRC scam circulating earlier this year used fake tax refund notifications to dupe taxpayers into filling out their personal information, including credit card details, on a phony refund form. When confronted with this sort of a predicament, it’s strongly recommended to abstain from following links embedded in the spoof email, otherwise a malware attack is imminent.

Scan your PC for the Insolvency Service scam related viruses

The links in rogue Company Investigations Inquiry Notices pretending to be from the Insolvency Service may point to drive-by downloads and exploit kits. To ascertain that no malware ended up inside your computer this way, consider checking it for all types of infections. The recommended software can quickly locate threats, eradicate them and remediate all harmful changes. So go ahead and do the following:

1. Download and install the antimalware tool. Open the solution and have it check your PC for PUPs and other types of malicious software by clicking the Start Computer Scan button

Download Insolvency Service scam malware remover

2. Rest assured the scan report will list all items that may harm your operating system. Select the detected entries and click Fix Threats to get the troubleshooting completed.