Krebs on Security

AUGUST 19, 2021

Abnormal Security documented how it tied the email back to a young man in Nigeria who acknowledged he was trying to save up money to help fund a new social network he is building called Sociogram. Image: Abnormal Security. billion in 2020. .

Ransomware 363

Ransomware Social Engineering Cybercrime Scams 363

SecureWorld News

APRIL 28, 2025

The phishing game has evolved into synthetic sabotage a hybrid form of social engineering powered by AI that can personalize, localize, and scale attacks with unnerving precision. At the heart of many of these kits are large language models (LLMs) trained or fine-tuned specifically for social engineering tasks.

Phishing 102

Phishing Social Engineering Engineering Data breaches 102

SecureWorld News

OCTOBER 3, 2023

And one of the most successful and increasingly prevalent ways of attack has come from social engineering, which is when criminals manipulate humans directly to gain access to confidential information. Social engineering is more sophisticated than ever, and its most advanced iteration is the topic of today's discussion: deepfakes.

Social Engineering 109

Social Engineering Phishing Engineering Technology 109

eSecurity Planet

MAY 16, 2025

The stolen information was then used in social engineering scams that tricked users into giving away their crypto. Masked Social Security numbers (last four digits). Limited internal corporate documentation. Extra ID checks and scam-awareness prompts for suspicious accounts. Government-issued ID images.

Social Engineering 70

Social Engineering Scams Accountability Engineering 70

Security Affairs

DECEMBER 10, 2024

This social engineering scheme has been amplified by targeted phishing, smishing, and vishing activities, with a noticeable increase around the winter holidays. In one documented call reported by Resecurity, the victim was contacted by an individual with an Indian accent and background noise typical of call centers.

Social Engineering 110

Social Engineering Phishing Banking DNS 110

SecureList

DECEMBER 6, 2022

There are two main types of online fraud aimed at stealing user data and money: phishing and scams. Phishers primarily seek to extract confidential information from victims, such as credentials or bank card details, while scammers deploy social engineering to persuade targets to transfer money on their own accord. Distribution.

Scams 132

Scams Phishing Social Engineering Banking 132

Krebs on Security

APRIL 6, 2022

“They would just keep jamming a few individuals to get [remote] access, read some onboarding documents, enroll a new 2FA [two-factor authentication method] and exfiltrate code or secrets, like a smash-and-grab,” the CXO said. The flash scam netted the perpetrators more than $100,000 in the ensuing hours.

Social Engineering 293

Social Engineering Phishing Accountability Engineering 293

Security Boulevard

JANUARY 26, 2023

Summary In the midst of significant layoffs hitting the previously immune tech industry, scammers have mobilized and doubled down on targeting job seekers with various employment scams. Fig 8 - Source code showing commented-out credit card validation element The malicious domain used in this scam - zscaler-finance-analyst-strategy[.]live,

Scams 131

Scams Identity Theft Social Engineering Advertising 131

Identity IQ

AUGUST 18, 2023

IdentityIQ Scam Report Reveals Shocking Stats on AI Social Engineering IdentityIQ AI social engineering scams are on the rise, according to IDIQ Chief Innovation Officer Michael Scheumack. “AI-based There’s been an astonishing 58% surge in scams tied to the popular payment apps we rely on.

Social Engineering 52

Social Engineering Scams Engineering Identity Theft 52

SecureWorld News

FEBRUARY 1, 2023

Over the last few years, it has been well documented how hackers utilize holidays to execute various cyberattacks. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently released a report on the top Valentine's Day scams , which includes things such as impostor websites, romance scams, wrong number scams, and fake florist scams.

Scams 98

Scams Social Engineering CISO Engineering 98

SecureList

MARCH 25, 2025

Amazon Online Shopping was mimicked by 33.19% of all phishing and scam pages targeting online store users in 2024. Financial phishing In 2024, online fraudsters continued to lure users to phishing and scam pages that mimicked the websites of popular brands and financial organizations. million detections compared to 5.84

Phishing 77

Phishing Banking Scams Mobile 77

Heimadal Security

JULY 15, 2022

Researchers have uncovered a new phishing kit that, under the guise of security controls, injects malware into legitimate WordPress sites and uses a fake PayPal-branded social engineering scam to trick targets into handing over their most sensitive data. Researchers from Akamai said that the attackers […].

Phishing 111

Phishing Social Engineering Scams Engineering 111

Krebs on Security

JANUARY 30, 2024

2022 that an intrusion had exposed a “limited number” of Twilio customer accounts through a sophisticated social engineering attack designed to steal employee credentials. As documented by Group-IB, the group pivoted from its access to Twilio to attack at least 163 of its customers. Twilio disclosed in Aug.

Social Engineering 359

Social Engineering Mobile Cybercrime Passwords 359

Security Affairs

JUNE 9, 2025

Threat actor used the accounts to mass-produce social media posts in Chinese, English, and Urdu, often political in nature, and internal performance documents. The company banned a small network of accounts linked to “VAGue Focus,” a likely China-origin operation blending social engineering and influence tactics.

Accountability 72

Accountability Social Engineering Media Authentication 72

Krebs on Security

FEBRUARY 25, 2021

” According to ID.me, a major driver of phony jobless claims comes from social engineering, where people have given away personal data in response to romance or sweepstakes scams, or after applying for what they thought was a legitimate work-from-home job. The amount of fraud we are fighting is truly staggering.”

Scams 336

Scams Insurance DDOS Authentication 336

Malwarebytes

MARCH 22, 2023

Below, we have an example of a tax scam currently in circulation along with some suggestions for avoiding these kinds of attacks. An IRS W-9 tax form scam A Form W-9 is a form you fill in to confirm certain personal details with the IRS. You won’t find many genuine Word documents weighing in at 500MB or more. File early.

Malware 98

Malware Scams Social Engineering Banking 98

Security Through Education

JUNE 2, 2025

Its way harder to spot than traditional scams, because you cant see where that QR code goes until its too late. Want to learn more about how to spot and stop scams like quishing? Visit social-engineer.org for expert tips, tools, and resources to stay secure. Written by Josten Pea Human Risk Analyst, Social-Engineer, LLC

Scams 52

Scams Social Engineering Mobile Antivirus 52

SecureWorld News

AUGUST 2, 2021

Here is how the company describes the threat of phishing emails: "Phishing is a common way scammers try to trick you into giving them personal information such as an account username and password, Social Security number, or other personal information. Here are two examples of these phishing attempts: 5 ways to spot phishing emails.

Phishing 98

Phishing Social Engineering Scams Identity Theft 98

SecureWorld News

DECEMBER 10, 2024

The research , released this morning, reveals how attackers are leveraging advanced social engineering, obfuscation techniques, and device exploitation to steal credentials and compromise financial and corporate applications. These apps act as droppers, silently installing the AppLite trojan. "The

Mobile 109

Mobile Social Engineering Banking Phishing 109

Security Through Education

JANUARY 18, 2023

Impersonation Scams. These range from simple to sophisticated scams to convince you they are genuine, in hopes that you feel comfortable sharing personal or financial information whether on the phone, via email, or text. Although BEC attacks may be targeted at business, they can also be used to scam individual people.

Cybersecurity 98

Cybersecurity Social Engineering Scams IoT 98

Security Affairs

OCTOBER 20, 2021

Once hijacked the channel, attackers either sell it to the highest bidder or employ it in cryptocurrency scam scheme. The malware landing page is disguised as a software download URL that was sent via email or a PDF on Google Drive, or via Google documents containing the phishing links.

Accountability 144

Accountability Malware Phishing Social Engineering 144

Malwarebytes

AUGUST 18, 2021

DocuSign is a service that allows people to sign documents in the Cloud. Signing documents electronically saves a lot of paper and time. Recipients can check links by hovering their mouse pointer over the document link in the email. If it is an actual DocuSign document it will be hosted at docusign.net.

Phishing 145

Phishing Password Management Passwords Accountability 145

Malwarebytes

MAY 8, 2025

After entering their credentials, victims are social engineered by the crooks to type a security code that was sent to their email address. This is usually a sound practice, but as we have documented it on this blog many times, URLs within ads can be spoofed also.

Phishing 98

Phishing Authentication Engineering Banking 98

SecureWorld News

DECEMBER 14, 2022

Frank Abagnale, one of the world's most respected authorities on forgery, embezzlement, secure documents, cybercrime, and scams—and subject of the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can — kicked off Vision 2023: Looking Ahead at Cyber Threats , a half-day educational event held live and recorded on December 13th.

CISO 97

CISO Social Engineering Cybercrime Education 97

Digital Shadows

OCTOBER 23, 2024

The attacker gained initial access to two employee accounts by carrying out social engineering attacks on the organization’s help desk twice. Leveraging its English proficiency, the collective uses social engineering for initial access. Within six hours, the attacker began encrypting the organization’s systems.

Social Engineering 122

Social Engineering Accountability Engineering Backups 122

Pen Test Partners

NOVEMBER 18, 2024

Be aware of some common approaches that are prevalent in scams such as these. Introduction When Channel 4 approached us to assist in investigating one of the largest rental scams in the UK, we didn’t hesitate. Their show, The £12 Million Rental Scam: UNTOLD , aimed to expose criminals preying on desperate renters.

Scams 52

Scams Social Engineering Identity Theft Banking 52

Identity IQ

OCTOBER 11, 2024

How to Protect Yourself from the Latest AI Scams IdentityIQ Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries, improving our daily lives, and shaping the future of technology. AI scams have become more sophisticated, making it harder to identify threats, and leaving more people vulnerable to fraud.

Scams 52

Scams Identity Theft Social Engineering Phishing 52

SecureWorld News

NOVEMBER 11, 2021

BEC or Email Account Compromise (EAC) was known as the $26 billion scam in 2019. The basics of the BEC scam are explained in a July 2021 SecureWorld article that interviewed Stephen Dougherty of the U.S. Understanding BEC scams. BEC is a sophisticated scam with multiple victims. Secret Service.

Scams 97

Scams Accountability Social Engineering Ransomware 97

Malwarebytes

JULY 19, 2021

We’ve observed a 419-style scam (also known as an advance fee scam) which combines the promise of cryptocurrency riches with WhatsApp conversation. This is the part of the scam where the people behind it start to get technical. It’s all about that personal touch in the land of cryptocurrency scams. Confidence tricksters.

Accountability 112

Accountability Scams Cryptocurrency Banking 112

Malwarebytes

OCTOBER 23, 2024

Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn is no stranger to bots attracted to special keywords and hashtags. Think “I was laid off”, “I’m #opentowork” and similar phrases that can wake up a swarm of bots hungry to scam someone new. If you ever fall victim to a scam, time is of the essence.

Phishing 118

Phishing Scams Accountability Passwords 118

Malwarebytes

JUNE 16, 2022

It involved 76 countries taking social engineers and telecommunications fraudsters to task, with multiple wins for those involved. Cash and forged official documents were seized in Hong Kong. The haul in Portugal included dozens of laptops, mobile devices of all varieties, and stacks of counterfeit official documents.

Scams 84

Scams Telecommunications Banking Media 84

Webroot

FEBRUARY 11, 2021

As we mentioned in a previous blog , hackers come in many forms, but their methods can generally be classified into three distinct types of cybercriminals: The Impersonator – Hackers that pretend to be others, often using social engineering and human psychology to trick users. Let’s look at a few primary examples.

Scams 119

Scams Phishing Firewall Social Engineering 119

SecureWorld News

MARCH 29, 2021

Hunt for those elusive documents, forage for forms like W-2s and 1099s, and gather with finance departments and accountants to see how good (hopefully) or how bad (hopefully not) of a year we objectively had. As if this yearly ritual does not put us enough on edge, it has also now become a primetime playoff for hacking scams and fraud.

Scams 98

Scams Data privacy Phishing Accountability 98

SecureWorld News

MARCH 1, 2023

To top it off, the average amount of money requested in wire transfer business email compromise (BEC) scams reached a whopping $93,881. The former typically results in visiting a credential phishing page, and the latter mostly triggers rogue macros within a Microsoft Office document.

Phishing 108

Phishing Social Engineering Scams Security Awareness 108

Thales Cloud Protection & Licensing

OCTOBER 25, 2023

Many organizations train employees to spot phishing emails, but few raise awareness of vishing phone scams. Vishers use voice-altering software, text messages, social engineering, and fraudulent phone numbers to trick users into revealing sensitive information.

Social Engineering 83

Social Engineering Phishing Engineering Scams 83

Security Affairs

JANUARY 3, 2024

Resecurity has uncovered a cybercriminal faction known as “ GXC Team “, who specializes in crafting tools for online banking theft, ecommerce deception, and internet scams. These methods are commonly employed in wire fraud and well-known bogus invoice scams. billion on organizations.

Artificial Intelligence 134

Artificial Intelligence Banking Scams Cybercrime 134

Zero Day

JUNE 20, 2025

And while financial costs may be a factor, individual victims may face targeted phishing campaigns, social engineering schemes, identity theft, and damage to credit.   Business Email Compromise (BEC) scams :  BEC scams  require an attacker to pretend to be a company employee, contractor, or service provider.

Passwords 106

Passwords Data breaches Password Management Identity Theft 106