Watch out! Widespread wire transfer confirmation emails carry malware

Cybercriminals have widely spammed out a malware campaign today, posing as a confirmation email about a wire transfer.

A typical email looks like this:

Subject: Fwd: Re: Wire Transfer Confirmation

Dear Bank Account Operator,
WIRE TRANSACTION: WIRE-[random number] CURRENT STATUS: REJECTED

You can find details in the attached file. (Microsoft Word format)

The precise subject line used by the emails can vary, as the below snapshot demonstrates:

Attached to the emails is a file called Transaction_N48823.zip (obviously the spammers could change this filename at any time) which contains an executable file.

Sophos is adding detection of the ZIP file as Troj/BredoZp-KQ and the Trojan horse contained within as Troj/Bredo-ZT. Users of Sophos’s anti-spam solutions were already protected.

Interestingly, in the example above, the malicious email claims to have come from Habbo Hotel – a…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

Found this article interesting? Follow Graham Cluley on Twitter or Mastodon to read more of the exclusive content we post.

Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.