X-Industry

Crypto took a major hit last year with losses exceeding $5.6 billion, mainly driven by investment fraud, tech support scams, and social engineering via government impersonation.  Latest findings published by the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the product of almost 70,000 reports, marks this 45% rise as a new record high for the industry.  The US alone accounts for $4.8 billion of these reported cases, followed by the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Canada, the UK, India, and Australia.

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The US government announced on 05 June 2024 that it had filed a civil forfeiture action to recover more than $5.3 million lost by a Massachusetts workers union in a business email compromise (BEC) scam.  The unnamed union in Dorchester lost the money in January 2023 when cybercriminals sent it an email that appeared to come from a trusted investment consulting firm.   The scammers used a spoofed email address to trick the workers union into believing that the investment consulting firm was reque

Spanish police have arrested more than 100 people who stole €850,000 (more than $900,000 USD) through WhatsApp by pretending to be their victims’ family members in urgent need of help.

According to a statement by the Guardia Civil, one of Spain's police forces, the suspects, men and women aged between 20 and 60, were arrested from February to April in seven Spanish provinces.  All were charged with fraud, money laundering, and being part of a criminal organization.

To trick their victims, the sc

With the automotive industry facing an unprecedented surge in loan fraud, dealerships are finding themselves at the front lines of a growing battle against sophisticated crime syndicates.  In the early months of 2023, the creation of manufactured identities allowed fraudsters access to a staggering $1.8 billion in automotive loan credit, a significant leap from $869 million in the same timeframe in 2021.  This escalation has not only highlighted the evolving threat landscape but has also prompte

Valentine's Day is a time when many people feel particularly vulnerable, but others also feel generous and giving. This makes it the perfect time for cybercriminals and fraudsters to operate. 

The Cyber Helpline https://www.lighthousevictimcare.org/organisation/the-cyber-helpline/, a UK charity led by volunteers and staff from the cybersecurity industry, has expanded to the USA to support those experiencing cybercrime and online harm. The charity expects a considerable increase in online relatio

In the secretive world of venture capital and startups, information means access and it means money.  And so, it is rare that we see closely-guarded information the financials, the emails, the cap table all picked apart and challenged for anyone who chooses to pay attention.  It is rare we hear a startup’s executives give unadulterated answers to questions on the record, under oath laying out how things really went under the hood.  We only get that kind of a look at a private company when things

Cyber security refers to every aspect of protecting a company or organization as well as its employees and assets from online threats.  For all of us in animal agriculture, cybersecurity is no longer just about avoiding those sketchy phishing emails or resetting our passwords.  It’s about being aware of our online presence and how that may make us vulnerable to individuals or groups looking to gain access to sensitive information with the intent to target our farms or companies.[1]

Recently, the

The phishing-as-a-service platform 16shop was taken down on 8 August as part of a global investigation led by Interpol.  Law enforcement arrested a 21-year-old Indonesian man accused of administering the platform, along with two other individuals involved in its operation: one in Indonesia and one in Japan.  The police also confiscated electronic devices and several luxury items belonging to the suspects.

According to a report from cybersecurity firm Group-IB, which was involved in the takedown,

A recent FBI report smishing attempts, which send text messages purporting to be from employees or company leadership to induce individuals to reveal personal information.  Actors conducting this scheme typically try to elicit financial information, personal identifiable information (PII), credentials, or details about a company and/or its employees.  The criminal threat actors in these instances are attempting to solicit and/or steal various types of information which could be used for financia

A recently identified dark web portal is offering illegal services related to financial fraud, identity theft, and money laundering.  Named the Styx Marketplace, the portal offers data dumps, cash-out services, fake and stolen IDs, SIM cards, multi-factor authentication bypass solutions, banking malware, and other types of illegal services.  Initially mentioned on the dark web in early 2022, the marketplace opened in January 2023, following an escrow module for brokering transactions between cyb

With the average cost of cars being close to buying a small house, auto financing is almost always required for most buyers.  Digital retailing is here to stay in the automotive industry, and it is growing exponentially.  While many think the auto industry is most worrying about getting inventory levels back to normal, their primary concern is fraud in digital retailing and the subsequent threat of profit erosion.   According to industry estimates, approximately one out of every five car buyers

The fall of the FTX crypto exchange forced many investors to seriously reconsider their overall approach to investments starting from self-custody to verifying the on-chain existence of funds.  This shift in approach was driven primarily by the lack of trust crypto investors have in the entrepreneurs after being duped by FTX CEO and co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

FTX crashed after Mr. Bankman-Fried and his accomplices were caught secretly reinvesting users’ funds, resulting in the misplacement of

The holidays are when people unknowingly let their guard down, and cybercriminals know it.  They take advantage of people at home who are in a good mood, excitedly awaiting packages that are gifts for family or friends; and they also know employee counts are low as the staff takes vacation time and someone not used to a certain role might be covering for another employee.  It is a holiday recipe for potential disaster.

See:  https://redskyalliance.org/xindustry/holiday-2021-tip-to-stay-safe-1

Th

The continued use of threat intelligence to combat nation-state espionage is an important practice for cybersecurity teams.  However, outside of common types of fraud seen on the dark web or closed forums, the same threat intelligence often is not leveraged to combat enterprise fraud.  Prevention is the key to protecting your organization from cyber breaches.  An effective defense uses all of the tools available to keep a breach from occurring in the first place. 

According to Sun-Tzu, a 4th-cen

The State of NJ NJCCIC continues to receive reports of stolen cryptocurrency and recently reported on observed tactics that often include the use of social engineering.  The FBI issued a notification this week alerting financial institutions and investors that cybercriminals are creating fraudulent cryptocurrency investment apps to defraud cryptocurrency investors.  The cybercriminals were observed contacting investors and convincing them to download fraudulent cryptocurrency investment mobile a

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced recently that a man has been arrested and charged for allegedly selling fraudulent and counterfeit Cisco products.   The suspect is 38-year-old Onur Aksoy of Miami, owner of Pro Network, who is allegedly also known as Ron Aksoy and Dave Durden.  According to authorities, he was the CEO of at least 19 companies collectively tracked as Pro Network Entities the organization that bought fake Cisco networking equipment from China and Hong Kong and sold it

This is a true story and the names and location of the victim's family have been deleted. A crypto account holder was annoyed when his phone would not stop buzzing. It looked like a robocall, so he tried to ignore it. The calls continued and then his wife’s phone also started to ring. When she picked it up, a banner came across, a notification that read, ‘Your account’s in jeopardy.’”  The warning, which he said was a text message, prompted him to pick up his phone. That was when the couple’s ni

The holiday shopping season is now at full throttle, and so is the risk of a cyber-attack. Threat actors often get to work during the holidays.  IT staff is heading out for vacation, and everyone is in a hurry.  This means we might skimp on security.  Still, there are some holiday cybersecurity tips that will help make the season go smoothly.  Today we would like to share some common sense, and very valuable tips by Jonathan Reed.[1]

During the holidays, online shopping and overall activity dram

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a new warning that fresh criminal schemes are continuing to target digital assets.  Security experts say with social engineering attempts on the rise, individuals and organizations must remain vigilant against crypto-related scams or other "get rich quick" schemes.

In its recent bulletin, the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and Division of Enforcement's Retail Strategy Task Force says, "Fraudsters continue to exploit the rising

“Oh Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?”  The FBI is warning the public that a massive spike of online romance scams this year caused many Americans to lose more than $113 million since the start of 2021.  The scammers behind this type of online fraud trend (also known as confidence fraud) which can lead to significant financial losses and devastating emotional scars use fake online identities to gain potential victims' trust on dating or social media platforms.

After the victims are lured in