Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

China-based phishing groups blamed for non-stop scam SMS messages about a supposed wayward package or unpaid toll fee are promoting a new offering, just in time for the holiday shopping season: Phishing kits for mass-creating fake but convincing e-commerce websites that convert customer payment card data into mobile wallets from Apple and Google. Experts say these same phishing groups also are now using SMS lures that promise unclaimed tax refunds and mobile rewards points.

Google has filed a lawsuit to dismantle the "Lighthouse" phishing-as-a-service platform used by cybercriminals worldwide to steal credit card information through SMS phishing attacks impersonating the U.S. Postal Service and E-ZPass toll systems. [...]

Google has filed a lawsuit to dismantle the "Lighthouse" phishing-as-a-service platform used by cybercriminals worldwide to steal credit card information through SMS phishing attacks impersonating the U.S. Postal Service and E-ZPass toll systems. [...]

Bitdefender highlighted the growing use of subscription scams, in which victims are lured by adverts into recurring payments for fake products

Criminals Listed 269 Million Stolen Payment Card For Sale in 2024, Researchers FindIt's an old story: Criminals rake in profits by using digital "e-skimming" software, running scam e-commerce sites and selling stolen payment card data. Unfortunately, it's made continually new thanks to adaptability of cybercriminals, who keep their tool set relevant and ever more lucrative.

Group-IB has observed scammers impersonating government officials to trick disaffected consumers into divulging card details

Scammers are flooding Facebook with groups that purport to offer video streaming of funeral services for the recently deceased. Friends and family who follow the links for the streaming services are then asked to cough up their credit card information. Recently, these scammers have branched out into offering fake streaming services for nearly any kind of event advertised on Facebook. Here's a closer look at the size of this scheme, and some findings about who may be responsible.

Facebook users are the target of a scam e-commerce network that uses hundreds of fake websites to steal personal and financial data using brand impersonation and malvertising tricks

AI Is Also Making Traditional Scams More Convincing, Warns VisaArtificial intelligence technologies such as generative AI are not helping fraudsters create new types of scams. They are doing just fine relying on the traditional scams, but the advent of AI is helping them scale up attacks and snare more victims, according to researchers at Visa.

Frank McKenna on How Customers Are Scamming Their Banks and How Banks Can RespondFirst-party fraud hits banks from many different places - credit card fraud claims, bust-out schemes, lending fraud and synthetic identity fraud. The diversity of scams poses major challenges in spotting fraudulent activity, said Frank McKenna, chief strategist and co-founder of Point Predictive.

Play Store commissions are a nice little earner, wherever they come from Google has been accused of profiting from gift card scams.…

BioCatch's Seth Ruden on How Defenders Can Keep Up With Evolving Fraud ScamsFirst-party fraudsters have shifted their focus from credit card fraud to deposit scams. In this evolving threat environment, financial institutions face new challenges from the increased use of synthetic identities and the difficulties in classifying first-party fraud, said BioCatch's Seth Ruden.

A Canadian man who says he's been falsely charged with orchestrating a complex e-commerce scam is seeking to clear his name. His case appears to involve "triangulation fraud," which occurs when a consumer purchases something online -- from a seller on Amazon or eBay, for example -- but the seller doesn't actually own the item for sale. Instead, the seller purchases the item from an online retailer using stolen payment card data. In this scam, the unwitting buyer pays the scammer and receives what they ordered, and very often the only party left to dispute the transaction is the owner of the stolen payment card.

A crime syndicate based in Russia steals millions of dollars from credit card companies using fake dating and porn sites on hundreds of domains to rack up fraudulent charges.

The victims of the plot were users of Mastercard, Visa, and American Express, among others

Businesses receive an invoice via email with a credit card charge and are asked to call a fake number and hand over personal information to receive a refund.

FBI and co blow lid off latest PHP tampering scam The FBI and its friends have warned businesses of crooks scraping people's credit-card details from tampered payment pages on compromised websites.…