Tag: scam
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Tips on researching tech support scams
At one end of the attack spectrum there are attacks that cleverly exploit features of modern processors. At the other end, there are tech support scams that, through some basic social engineering, aim to convince the victim that their PC is infected (or even that their ‘IP address is spreading viruses’) and then charge a…
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Tips on researching tech support scams
At one end of the attack spectrum there are attacks that cleverly exploit features of modern processors. At the other end, there are tech support scams that, through some basic social engineering, aim to convince the victim that their PC is infected (or even that their ‘IP address is spreading viruses’) and then charge a…
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VB2015 paper: Mobile Banking Fraud via SMS in North America: Who’s Doing it and How
While SMS has been declared dead many times, the service remains frequently used – and abused. In a paper presented at VB2015 in Prague, Adaptive Mobile researcher Cathal Mc Daid looked at fraudulent SMS campaigns, in particular those targeting banking users in North America. He showed how these campaigns tend to target specific banks and…
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Tech support scammers won’t give up
M3AAWG workshop to deal with fighting telephony abuse. For security researchers like myself, receiving a call from a tech support scammer is usually a good opportunity for a bit of fun. Indeed, telephone conversations with scammers can be quite hilarious as a recent recording by blogger Troy Hunt shows. Of course, for those who are…
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Tens of thousands of fake Twitter accounts passed off and sold as ‘followers’
After initial takedown, more efforts put into making new fake accounts look genuine. Virus Bulletin ‘s research into a scam selling fake Twitter accounts being passed off as ‘followers’ has helped in the takedown of more than 45,000 such accounts – but has also showed that the scammers are upping their game. The success of…
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Phone support scams: an old scam with some new tricks
Files in Prefetch directory supposedly show malware infections. Telephone support scams have been going on for quite a long time, and have received a fair amount of publicity, which often makes me wonder if there are still people who fall for them. A call I received last week proved that the callers haven’t given up.…
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Microsoft ‘found to make requests’ to URLs shared via Skype
HEAD requests likely used to determine landing page. Is Microsoft checking all the links you share via Skype ? German online magazine Heise thinks so. A reader of security magazine Heise discovered that all URLs sent via Skype chat received a request from an IP address that was registered with Microsoft (which bought Skype in…
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Cybercriminals quick to exploit emerging news
Malicious emails appear a matter of hours after news of explosions in the US. It would have come as little surprise to anyone in the security industry that within hours of this week’s tragic news emerging from the US, spammers, scammers and malware writers had already begun to exploit interest in the breaking news stories.…
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Phone support scammers attempt repeat business
Previous victims contacted again and tricked into ‘renewing’ service. Phone support scammers have found a new way to make easy money: by calling back people whom they have previously tricked into paying for their services, and tricking the same innocent users into paying for a ‘renewal’ of the service. As someone who regularly works from…
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Support scammers up their game
Websites and Facebook accounts created to make callers appear more legitimate. ‘Support call scammers’ have started to use professional-looking websites and social media accounts to make themselves appear more legitimate. In these scams – which have been prevalent in many English-speaking countries for some time – victims are telephoned and told that their computer has…