How Social Engineering Enables a Facebook Adware Campaign
A slick social engineering campaign is using Facebook Messenger, Google Docs, and a series of malicious websites to install adware and other unwanted applications on victims’ machines. The campaign begins with Facebook Messenger messages sent to a new victim. The messages come from a contact of the victim and contain a shortened link that points […]
Credit Card Gangs Using Online Courses to Recruit Potential Fraudsters
By Jonah Berg-Ganzarain Credit card fraud gangs are becoming more strategic in their efforts to exploit the public. These groups are expanding their operation to create remote learning courses, teaching potential fraudsters how to succeed, according to a new report from Digital Shadows. In a report released this week, Digital Shadows combed through hundreds of criminal forums […]
FCC Looking For Call Authentication Systems
The FCC is looking for help in developing a system to authenticate phone calls. Caller ID spoofing has become one of the bigger problems on phone networks and is one of the main tools that fraud rings use when running illegal robocall operations. Software and apps to spoof caller ID signals are easily available and […]
China Holds Dozens of Japanese Citizens in Phone Fraud Investigation
The Chinese government has detained several dozen Japanese citizens as part of an investigation into a phone fraud ring that has been targeting elderly victims in Japan. The arrests reportedly occurred in late June and are connected to the problem of phone scams that prey on senior citizens looking for easy cash. Similar to phone […]
Democrats Ask FCC to Dump Ringless Voicemails
A group of Democrats is asking the FCC to prevent robocalls telemarketers and political candidates from being able to use ringless voicemails to deliver their messages to consumers. The use of ringless voicemails is a controversial technique, because it allows callers to deliver voicemails directly to consumers without actually ringing their phones. Rather than using […]
Google Upgrades Gmail Defenses Against Phishing and Malware
Google is rolling out a new set of protections for Gmail customers that rely on machine learning to help better identify phishing messages and malicious attachments. Gmail is popular among both consumers and small and medium enterprises, which rely on it for low-cost hosted email and apps. The service also is one of the larger […]
After Reports of Abuse, Developer Disables Phonecord Bot
The developer of the Phonecord bot has disabled it for the time being after security researchers discovered that threat actors were using the bot for harassing calls, including some to federal law enforcement agencies. Phonecord is a bot designed for use on the Discord communications app, which is used by gamers and others to communicate […]
New Phone Bot Being Used in Harassing Calls
Some attackers have taken to using a new phone bot for the Discord chat and voice app to send large numbers of harassing and nuisance calls to individual victims, retailers, and even law enforcement agencies. Known as Phonecord, the bot is being used in a number of different ways. But unlike most other phone-based campaigns, the […]
Phone Fraud Jumps 113% as Criminals Focus on Call Centers
Criminals are targeting corporate call centers at an unprecedented rate, resulting in a 113 percent spike in the fraud rate in the last year, new data compiled by Pindrop shows. Phone fraud has become one of the favored tactics for criminals as they look for less-risky and more-profitable avenues to get into targeted organizations. The phone […]