Latest cybersecurity reporting from selected sources.

Cops bust latest scam, return $12m to bilked victims US, UK, and Canadian law enforcement Thursday said that they disrupted a $45 million global cryptocurrency scam, freezing $12 million in stolen funds and identifying more than 20,000 cryptocurrency wallet addresses linked to fraud victims across 30 countries.…

Civil recovery order targets PlugwalkJoe's illicit gains while he serves US sentence British prosecutors have secured a civil recovery order to seize crypto assets worth £4.11 million ($5.39 million) from Twitter hacker Joseph James O'Connor, clawing back the proceeds of a scam that used hijacked celebrity accounts to solicit digital currency and threaten high-profile individuals.…

A new theory from the agency that brought us ‘America hacked itself to blame Beijing’ China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC) has alleged a nation-state entity, probably the USA, was behind a 2020 attack on a bitcoin mining operation and by doing so has gone into bat for entities that Beijing usually blasts.…

Crypto mines, BEC scams, fake passports, and a $300M fraud empire allegedly brought down during Serengeti 2.0 Interpol's latest clampdown on cybercrime resulted in 1,209 arrests across the African continent, from ransomware crooks to business email compromise (BEC) scammers, the agency says.…

PLUS: Kryptos solution up for auction; Canadian parliament springs a leak; Fake crypto lawyers; And more Infosec In Brief New York State is suing bank-owned peer-to-peer payment app Zelle, claiming that the banks behind it knew fraud was rampant on the platform but allowed scammers to conduct business with impunity.…

PLUS: Crypto mixer founders plead guilty; Another French telco hacked; Meta fights WhatsApp scams; And more! Infosec In Brief A critical vulnerability in the on-prem version of Trend Micro's Apex One endpoint security platform is under active exploitation, the company admitted last week, and there's no patch available.…

The latest in a long line of fraud stings worth billions each year Two men are in police custody after being arrested in connection with a July cryptocurrency fraud involving a man in his seventies.…

Devices containing crypto wallets tracked online, then in the real world Indian authorities seize loot from BitConnect crypto-Ponzi scheme Devices containing crypto wallets tracked online, then in the real world India’s Directorate of Enforcement has found and seized over $200 million of loot it says are the proceeds of the BitConnect crypto-fraud scheme.…

PLUS: DOGE web design disappoints; FBI stops crypto scams; Zacks attacked again; and more! Infosec In Brief A security researcher has found that Google could leak the email addresses of YouTube channels, which wasn’t good because the search and ads giant promised not to do that.…

FBI recovers just $8M after scam crashes Heartland Tri-State Bank The FBI has recovered $8 million in funds from a cryptocurrency scam that netted $47 million and devastated the Kansas city of Elkhart.…

ALSO: Crypto-hub Binance helps Delhi police shut down solar power scam IBM announced on Tuesday it has acquired Prescinto, a Bangalore-based provider of asset performance management software for renewable energy.…

Plus: SpaceX plans Vietnam investment; Yahoo! Japan content moderation secrets; LG offloads Chinese display factory; and more ASIA IN BRIEF It's not often The Register writes about a cryptocurrency outfit being on the right side of a scam or crime, but last week crypto exchange Binance claimed it helped Indian authorities to investigate a scam gaming app.…

Elderly people report the greatest losses The FBI just dropped its annual report examining the costs of crypto-related cybercrime, painting a predictably grim picture as total losses in the US exceeded $5.6 billion in 2023 – a 45 percent year-on-year increase.…

Plus: Trump family X accounts hijacked to promote crypto scam; Fog ransomware spreads; Hijacked PyPI packages; and more Infosec in brief After activating its chameleon field and going to ground following press attention earlier this year, the dangerous Predator commercial spyware kit is back – with upgrades.…

There's a blockchain involved so it's totally going to stop you getting those calls India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) on Tuesday directed telcos to stop calls from unregistered telemarketers – and prevent them from using networks again for up to two years – as part of an effort to curb spam and scams.…

Business is more lucrative than you might think The FBI says in just 12 months, scumbags stole circa $10 million from victims of crypto scams after posing as helpful lawyers offering to recover their lost tokens.…

In happier news, Ubuntu Pro extended support now goes up to 12 years After multiple waves of cryptocurrency credential-stealing apps were uploaded to the Snap store, Canonical is changing its policies.…

United Nations finds IT contract and crypto scams are just two of DPRK's illicit menu items If you dine out at an Asian restaurant on your next holiday, the United Nations thinks your meal could help North Korea to launder money.…

Latest figures paint grim picture of how viciously the elderly are targeted The FBI says investment fraud was the form of cybercrime that incurred the greatest financial loss for Americans last year.…

‘Inaccessible and autonomous armed group territories’ host crooks who use tech to launder cash, run slave scam gangs, and more Global crime networks have set up shop in autonomous territories run by armed gangs across Southeast Asia, and are using them to host physical and online casinos that, in concert with crypto exchanges, have led to an explosion of money laundering, cyberfraud, and cybercrime across the region and beyond.…