What is the Purpose of this Spam Email?

Secret2ndAccount

I received a spam message. It was brief, and well written. It did not contain any links to click on or numbers to call. There was a pdf attachment. Google, and my PC said it was malware free so I opened it. It looked like an invoice. Rudimentary but realistic. It wasn't asking for money - there was nowhere to send payment. In the small print was a phone number. It doesn't seem to be premium rate, or a known scam number. I haven't called it.

What is the purpose of an Email like this? What might they be trying to achieve?

GrumpyDil

Possibly genuine but sent to the wrong email address?

beckstar1975

Can be a virus in the attachment, security software isn't 100%. Or they get notification you open random emails so are now on their 'bombarded with scam emails list'.

This is why the advice is always just ignore and delete

LightFlare

Secret2ndAccount said:

I received a spam message. It was brief, and well written. It did not contain any links to click on or numbers to call. There was a pdf attachment. Google, and my PC said it was malware free so I opened it. It looked like an invoice. Rudimentary but realistic. It wasn't asking for money - there was nowhere to send payment. In the small print was a phone number. It doesn't seem to be premium rate, or a known scam number. I haven't called it.

What is the purpose of an Email like this? What might they be trying to achieve?

Reasonably easy to disguise one thing as another or have something download piggy backed off opening a document/file

I would recommend you do a full scan of your PC and monitor emails, online banking, any online accounts etc for a few weeks 

Secret2ndAccount

Okay, I think I've got to the bottom of it. They are just trying to get me to call the help number. Once I do that they will start asking for personal details: "What's your name and address; which credit card did you use, ..."
The number they have given looks a bit like a free-phone number. It's not a premium call - included in most people's call package - but I think they are hoping some people will say 'oh it's a free-phone number - I will just give them a call and see what this is about'

Sooler

Secret2ndAccount said:

I received a spam message. It was brief, and well written. It did not contain any links to click on or numbers to call. There was a pdf attachment. Google, and my PC said it was malware free so I opened it. It looked like an invoice. Rudimentary but realistic. It wasn't asking for money - there was nowhere to send payment. In the small print was a phone number. It doesn't seem to be premium rate, or a known scam number. I haven't called it.

What is the purpose of an Email like this? What might they be trying to achieve?

first step they managed to manipulate you to open it