Skip to main content

Online scammers target desperate loan seekers using online fraud

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support

Hackers are stealing money from gullible victims looking for a flash loan and moving it into China, experts have warned.

A new report from cybersecurity experts CloudSEK has suggested such activity means there is a need for greater international cooperation in order to stop this type of fraud.

As per the report, hackers (which CloudSEK believes are Chinese) have created over four dozen Android apps, impersonating popular Indian banks. These apps are hosted on different third-party app repositories and standalone websites. Then, they are “aggressively” advertised through social media. The advertisements promise quick and substantial loans, and easy repayments.

Thousands of dollars stolen

Gullible consumers who fall for the trick are then asked to share personal information, such as their name, address, phone number, and bank account information. Furthermore, they are asked to pay a processing fee, usually 5% of the loan they are applying for. When that happens, the app goes dark, the loan never makes it to the victim’s bank account, and the money is gone.

Apparently, the hackers managed to steal more than $44,000 this way. The worst part is that the money is quickly moved across the border and into China, where the lack of proper regulatory scrutiny allows the attackers to hide their tracks effectively. This is made possible with the use of various payment gateways, not just Chinese, but also Indonesian, Malaysian, South African, Mexican, Brazilian, Turkish, Vietnamese, Philippino, and Colombian. 

"A notable trend we've observed is scammers exploiting Chinese payment gateways due to their relative ease of use and limited regulatory scrutiny. These gateways offer a convenient bridge to funnel funds outside India, leveraging sophisticated techniques that blur jurisdictional lines, making it challenging to track and intercept the money trail,” said Sparsh Kulshrestha, Senior Security Analyst at CloudSEK. 

“This enables scammers to sidestep the legal and financial roadblocks, making it imperative for authorities to enhance cooperation and adopt advanced measures to counter this sophisticated threat."

More from TechRadar Pro



via Hosting & Support
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Web Hosting
Remote IT Support
Sites & Socials

Popular posts from this blog

AI tools are making social engineering attacks even more convincing, and I fear that this is only the beginning

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support Nick Park’s Wallace and Gromit were brought crashing into the 21st century in December 2024 with their latest adventure, Vengeance Most Fowl . The film challenges our growing dependence on smart technology in the form of a robotic garden gnome, built by Wallace to support his gardening business, which is then hacked by the Kubrick-esque Feathers McGraw for his own nefarious purposes. One of the more interesting but less commented on parts of the film shows Gromit cautiously entering his house and being greeted by what he thinks is Wallace’s reassuring voice, only to be confronted with Feathers and the robotic gnome. Technology’s ability to mimic linguistic patterns, to clone a person’s voice and understand and respond to questions has developed dramatically in the last few years. This has not gone unnoticed by the world’s criminals and scammers, with the result that social engineering attacks are not only on the rise but are more sophisticated a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Want a remote control for your smart home? SwitchBot has made a Matter-compatible one

Web Hosting & Remote IT Support SwitchBot has launched a unique piece of tech capable of controlling smart home devices and infrared appliances. And the best part is you don’t need to connect it to a smartphone or to the internet as it functions perfectly offline.  Aptly named the SwitchBot Universal Remote , it has large spacious buttons, a navigation wheel in the middle, and a 2.4-inch LCD at the top. The company states in their announcement it sought to create a “user-friendly design” that everybody can understand. Now, you can’t just point the Universal Remote at a device and then push a button to issue commands immediately. According to Android Central , you must first choose what you want to control, which can be done by pressing the center red button. Pressing the main button will let you change which group of smart home devices to control.  Universal Remote has launched! 🚀 Consolidate all your remotes, and control everything at home, even #automation! NOW,...
Post a Comment
Read more