Tech Support, Email Fraud Schemes Top FBI Internet Crime List
Fraudsters are continuing to have quite a bit of success with business email compromise scams. Last year, companies in the United States lost more than $360 million to these schemes, an increase of nearly 50 percent from 2015. The FBI’s 2016 Internet Crime Report, which the bureau’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) released Thursday, includes […]
Europol Dismantles International Fraud Ring
Police have dismantled a payment-card fraud network that stretched across Europe and had the capability to clone payment cards, install skimmers on ATMs, and is responsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses. The fraud ring was operating not just in Europe, but also in the United States, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Malaysia, Costa Rica, […]
On the Wire Podcast: Michael Tiffany
Cybercriminals depend upon the income they generate from their schemes to fund further operations, and one of the main ways that they extract money from victims is through ad fraud. This week, researchers at White Ops disclosed the existence of the Methbot ad fraud network, which is using a sophisticated worldwide infrastructure and custom browsers […]
How Social Engineering Enables Fraud
Fraudsters who are looking to separate businesses from their money often will specialize in one kind of scam. Whether it’s credit card fraud, 419 scams, or phone fraud, the people behind these schemes tend to focus their energy on one and learn it inside and out. But despite that specialization, there are common skills that […]
Tesco Bank Refunds £2.5 Million, Restores Online Service After Attack
Two days after suspending all online payments following an attack, Tesco Bank in the U.K. has resumed full service and bank officials say they have refunded about £2.5 million to customers affected by the incident. The exact nature of the attack on the bank’s customers still isn’t clear, but last weekend many Tesco customers reported that significant amounts of […]
Dozens Arrested in Huge European Online Fraud Raid
Law enforcement officials in 10 countries conducted sweeping raids Monday on what they is a distributed, organized cybercrime ring that has been conducting online fraud operations across Europe and have stolen more than €3.5 million. The raids were coordinated by Europol and involved authorities in the U.K., Spain, Portugal, France, Ireland, and several countries, and resulted […]
Bulgarian Sentenced in $6 Million Tax Refund Scheme
The IRS and taxpayers themselves have been the targets of a wide range of attacks and scams for many years, most of which involve some variety of identity theft. The fraudsters behind these operations often go unpunished, but in a rare victory, the U.S. government has convicted and sentenced to nearly four years in prison a Bulgarian […]
Walmart Sues Visa Over Chip-and-PIN Security
In what may be a sign of things to come, Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, has filed a lawsuit against Visa USA over the payment card brand’s refusal to allow consumers to use PINs, rather than signatures, to verify their identities during transactions with chip cards. The suit, filed this week in New York State […]
As Chip-and-PIN Emerges, Attackers Favor Credential Theft and Online Fraud
The move to chip-and-PIN technology in the United States last year was supposed to be a security win, making in-store transactions more reliable and resistant to fraud. But the adoption rate for the technology hasn’t been as high as expected, and experts and analysts say that criminals are simply shifting their focus to other tactics such […]