The current COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent stay-at-home and social distancing directives might have played a major role in romance scams losses reaching record levels in 2020, the US Federal Trade Commission said in a report last week. From a report: Total losses were estimated at a record $304 million, up about 50% from 2019, with the average loss last year…
Tag: scams
Apple Wins Victory as North Dakota Votes Down Bill That Would Regulate App Stores
The North Dakota state senate voted 36-11 on Tuesday not to pass a bill that would have required app stores to enable software developers to use their own payment processing software and avoid fees charged by Apple and Google. From a report: The vote is a victory for Apple, which says that the App Store is a core part of its…
270 Addresses Are Responsible for 55% of All Cryptocurrency Money Laundering
Criminals who keep their funds in cryptocurrency tend to launder funds through a small cluster of online services, blockchain investigations firm Chainalysis said in a report last week. From a report: This includes services like high-risk (low-reputation) crypto-exchange portals, online gambling platforms, cryptocurrency mixing services, and financial services that support cryptocurrency operations headquartered in high-risk jurisdictions. Criminal activity studied in this…
Darknet Crypto Kingpin JokerStash Retires After Illicit $1 Billion Run
The kingpin or kingpins of the world’s biggest illicit credit card marketplace have retired after making an estimated fortune of over $1 billion in cryptocurrency, according to research by blockchain analysis firm Elliptic shared with Reuters. From the report: The “Joker’s Stash” marketplace, where stolen credit cards and identity data traded hands for bitcoin and other digital coins, ceased operations this…
Google’s Fi VPN Is Coming To iPhones Soon
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ZDNet: Google is rolling out its virtual private network (VPN) service for subscribers of its Fi network that should help people when they’re using online services on public Wi-Fi. “We plan to roll out the VPN to iPhone starting this spring,” Google notes. Google is also bringing its privacy and security hub to Android…
Google Gave Top Spot For ‘Home Depot’ Searches to a Malicious Ad
“A malicious Home Depot advertising campaign is redirecting Google search visitors to tech support scams,” claims Bleeping Computer. Slashdot reader nickwinlund77 shares their report: BleepingComputer searched for ‘home depot’ and was shown the malicious advertisement on our first try. Even worse, the ad is the top spot in the research result, making it more likely to be clicked… [T]he ad clearly…
Email and Web Traffic Redirected for Multiple Cryptocurrency Sites After GoDaddy Attack
“Fraudsters redirected email and web traffic destined for several cryptocurrency trading platforms over the past week,” reports security researcher Brian Krebs: The attacks were facilitated by scams targeting employees at GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar, KrebsOnSecurity has learned… This latest campaign appears to have begun on or around Nov. 13, with an attack on cryptocurrency trading platform liquid.com. “A…
‘Unusually Large Number’ of Breached Sendgrid Accounts Are Sending Spams and Scams
Krebs on Security reports:
Email service provider Sendgrid is grappling with an unusually large number of customer accounts whose passwords have been cracked, sold to spammers, and abused for sending phishing and email malware attacks. Sendgrid’s parent company Twilio says it is working on a plan to require multi-factor authentication for all of its customers, but that solution may not come fast…
Apple Being Sued For Refusing To Help iTunes Gift Card Scam Victims
“Apple is being sued for allegedly refusing to help those who have fallen victim to a iTunes gift card scam,” reports 9to5Mac, in an article shared by Slashdot reader AmiMoJo:
An 11-count class action lawsuit has been filed against the company. Apple is accused of lying when it says that there is no way to trace or refund the value of the…
Steve Wozniak Sues YouTube Over Twitter-Like Bitcoin Scam
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says YouTube has for months allowed scammers to use his name and likeness as part of a phony bitcoin giveaway similar to the one that was quickly extinguished by Twitter last week. Scammers used images and video of Wozniak, who left Apple in 1985, to convince YouTube users that he was hosting a live giveaway and anyone…