'Banco Montepio' Email Scam

Malware creators have developed the so-called 'Banco Montepio' email scam with the purpose of extracting log-in credentials for online banking accounts from potential victims. In that case, the fraudsters aim mainly at the usernames of PIN codes/passwords of Internet users. As the name suggests, this tactic refers to a mass-scale email campaign. It means that in the course of the cyberattack, thousands of deceptive email messages are being sent to random recipients, 'informing' them that some unusual transactions have been detected on their banking accounts.

'Banco Montepio' email scam's messages have 'Subject: BANCO MONTEPIO - Identificamos uma transação nao habitual em sua conta. - ( 62051474959)' in the Subject line, or some similar text. The message's text claims the recipients need to update their accounts' security credentials and Private Net24 Access because otherwise, their accounts would be suspended. To add credibility to these claims, the con artists have used the name of the Portuguese banking and financial organization Banco Montepio.

The misleading messages try to trick users into following a link embedded into the emails to access the bank's online service log-in page securely. In fact, the website that victims are sent to is a phishing website, and all entered data is being captured and transmitted to the malware operators. As a result, the fraudsters can get full control over the victims' online banking account, opening the way to all sorts of fraudulent financial transactions. In the email, the corrupted link is disguised under a button named "Realizar autorização."

Trusting the fake emails from the 'Banco Montepio' email scam may lead to substantial monetary losses and severe privacy issues, reaching even up to identity theft. Users can neutralize such spam campaigns by merely ignoring any emails from unknown senders and never clicking on suspicious links or attachments.