Patchwork Using Romance Scam Lures to Infect Android Devices with VajraSpy Malware

The threat actor known as Patchwork likely used romance scam lures to trap victims in Pakistan and India, and infect their Android devices with a remote access trojan called VajraSpy. Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET said it uncovered 12 espionage apps, six of which were available for download from the official Google Play Store and were collectively downloaded more than 1,400 times between

Inferno Malware Masqueraded as Coinbase, Drained $87 Million from 137,000 Victims

The operators behind the now-defunct Inferno Drainer created more than 16,000 unique malicious domains over a span of one year between 2022 and 2023. The scheme “leveraged high-quality phishing pages to lure unsuspecting users into connecting their cryptocurrency wallets with the attackers’ infrastructure that spoofed Web3 protocols to trick victims into authorizing transactions,”

Mandiant's X Account Was Hacked Using Brute-Force Attack

The compromise of Mandiant's X (formerly Twitter) account last week was likely the result of a "brute-force password attack," attributing the hack to a drainer-as-a-service (DaaS) group. "Normally, [two-factor authentication] would have mitigated this, but due to some team transitions and a change in X's 2FA policy, we were not adequately protected," the threat intelligence firm said 

Beware: Scam-as-a-Service Aiding Cybercriminals in Crypto Wallet-Draining Attacks

Cybersecurity researchers are warning about an increase in phishing attacks that are capable of draining cryptocurrency wallets. "These threats are unique in their approach, targeting a wide range of blockchain networks, from Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain to Polygon, Avalanche, and almost 20 other networks by using a crypto wallet-draining technique," Check Point researchers Oded Vanunu,

Four U.S. Nationals Charged in $80 Million Pig Butchering Crypto Scam

Four U.S. nationals have been charged for participating in an illicit scheme that earned them more than $80 million via cryptocurrency investment scams. The defendants – Lu Zhang, 36, of Alhambra, California; Justin Walker, 31, of Cypress, California; Joseph Wong, 32, Rosemead, California; and Hailong Zhu, 40, Naperville, Illinois – have been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering,

Major Cyber Attack Paralyzes Kyivstar - Ukraine's Largest Telecom Operator

Ukraine's biggest telecom operator Kyivstar has become the victim of a "powerful hacker attack,” disrupting customer access to mobile and internet services. "The cyberattack on Ukraine's #Kyivstar telecoms operator has impacted all regions of the country with high impact to the capital, metrics show, with knock-on impacts reported to air raid alert network and banking sector as

SpyLoan Scandal: 18 Malicious Loan Apps Defraud Millions of Android Users

Cybersecurity researchers have discovered 18 malicious loan apps for Android on the Google Play Store that have been collectively downloaded over 12 million times. "Despite their attractive appearance, these services are in fact designed to defraud users by offering them high-interest-rate loans endorsed with deceitful descriptions, all while collecting their victims' personal and

Cybercriminals Using Telekopye Telegram Bot to Craft Phishing Scams on a Grand Scale

More details have emerged about a malicious Telegram bot called Telekopye that's used by threat actors to pull off large-scale phishing scams. "Telekopye can craft phishing websites, emails, SMS messages, and more," ESET security researcher Radek Jizba said in a new analysis. The threat actors behind the operation – codenamed Neanderthals – are known to run the criminal enterprise as a

34 Cybercriminals Arrested in Spain for Multi-Million Dollar Online Scams

Spanish law enforcement officials have announced the arrest of 34 members of a criminal group that carried out various online scams, netting the gang about €3 million ($3.2 million) in illegal profits. Authorities conducted searches across 16 locations Madrid, Malaga, Huelva, Alicante, and Murcia, seizing two simulated firearms, a katana sword, a baseball bat, €80,000 in cash, four high-end

U.S. DoJ Cracks Down on North Korean IT Scammers Defrauding Global Businesses

The U.S. government has announced the seizure of 17 website domains used by North Korean information technology (IT) workers as part of an illicit scheme to defraud businesses across the world, evade sanctions, and fund the country's ballistic missile program. The Department of Justice (DoJ) said the U.S. confiscated approximately $1.5 million of the revenue that these IT workers collected from

Classiscam Scam-as-a-Service Raked $64.5 Million During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Classiscam scam-as-a-service program has reaped the criminal actors $64.5 million in illicit earnings since its emergence in 2019. "Classiscam campaigns initially started out on classified sites, on which scammers placed fake advertisements and used social engineering techniques to convince users to pay for goods by transferring money to bank cards," Group-IB said in a new report. "Since

Beware: 1,000+ Fake Cryptocurrency Sites Trap Users in Bogus Rewards Scheme

A previously undetected cryptocurrency scam has leveraged a constellation of over 1,000 fraudulent websites to ensnare users into a bogus rewards scheme since at least January 2021. "This massive campaign has likely resulted in thousands of people being scammed worldwide," Trend Micro researchers said in a report published last week, linking it to a Russian-speaking threat actor named "Impulse

Vietnamese Threat Actor Infects 500,000 Devices Using 'Malverposting' Tactics

A Vietnamese threat actor has been attributed as behind a "malverposting" campaign on social media platforms to infect over 500,000 devices worldwide over the past three months to deliver variants of information stealers such as S1deload Stealer and SYS01stealer. Malverposting refers to the use of promoted social media posts on services like Facebook and Twitter to mass propagate malicious

U.S. Authorities Seize Domains Used in 'Pig butchering' Cryptocurrency Scams

The U.S. Justice Department (DoJ) on Monday announced the takedown of seven domain names in connection to a "pig butchering" cryptocurrency scam. The fraudulent scheme, which operated from May to August 2022, netted the actors over $10 million from five victims, the DoJ said. Pig butchering, also called Sha Zhu Pan, is a type of scam in which swindlers lure unsuspecting investors into sending

19-Year-Old Teen Arrested for Using Leaked Optus Breach Data in SMS Scam

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has arrested a 19-year-old teen from Sydney for allegedly attempting to leverage the data leaked following the Optus data breach late last month to extort victims. The suspect is said to have carried out a text message blackmail scam, demanding that the recipients transfer $2,000 to a bank account or risk getting their personal information misused for

BEC Scammer Gets 25-Year Jail Sentence for Stealing Over $9.5 Million

A 46-year-old man in the U.S. has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of laundering over $9.5 million accrued by carrying out cyber-enabled financial fraud. Elvis Eghosa Ogiekpolor of Norcross, Georgia, operated a money laundering network that opened at least 50 business bank accounts for illicitly receiving funds from unsuspecting individuals and businesses after

Researchers Uncover Classiscam Scam-as-a-Service Operations in Singapore

A sophisticated scam-as-a-service operation dubbed Classiscam has now infiltrated into Singapore, more than 1.5 years after expanding to Europe. "Scammers posing as legitimate buyers approach sellers with the request to purchase goods from their listings and the ultimate aim of stealing payment data," Group-IB said in a report shared with The Hacker News. The cybersecurity firm called the

Interpol Nabs 3 Nigerian Scammers Behind Malware-based Attacks

Interpol on Monday announced the arrest of three suspected global scammers in Nigeria for using remote access trojans (RATs) such as Agent Tesla to facilitate malware-enabled cyber fraud. "The men are thought to have used the RAT to reroute financial transactions, stealing confidential online connection details from corporate organizations, including oil and gas companies in South East Asia, the