'USAA' Email Scam

The 'USAA' email scam is a campaign that tries to trick users into providing their data, like credit card details, login credentials for online accounts, or any other data that can be potentially misused by cybercriminals. Attackers disguise the spam emails as important messages by using official names and logos of companies and organizations and putting some catching keywords in the subject line. In the particular case of the 'USAA' email scam, the emails claim to come from the popular financial services company USAA, and some have the text "Your benefit payment has been received" as a subject.

Malware researchers have identified two options for this tactic. The first one's emails contain a direct link to a phishing website and aim to make potential victims click on that link to open the dubious page; in the second type, the link hides within a PDF file attached to the emails. Another discrepancy between the two variants is that one of them asks the user to confirm a mobile phone number, whereas the other requests to confirm a benefit payment.

Both 'USAA' email scam versions have the ultimate goal to get the victims' data like passwords, credit card details, usernames, and any other data that can be misused for the sake of collecting money from banking accounts, hijacking a person's identity and conducting other fraudulent transactions. In any case, emails from unknown or suspicious senders should be ignored.