Scams use deception to steal money, credentials, or sensitive data, making them a cybersecurity risk for individuals and organizations.
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Background for this topic.
Scams are deceptive schemes intended to make people surrender money, credentials, sensitive information, or access. In information security, they commonly use phishing messages, impersonation, fraudulent websites, business-email compromise, fake technical support, or malicious attachments. Their defining feature is manipulation: the attacker creates a credible pretext and pressures the target to act before verifying the request.
Security teams should treat scams as an attack surface spanning email, messaging, telephone calls, social media, and payment workflows. Material risks include account takeover through stolen credentials, unauthorized payments, disclosure of personal or company data, and malware execution from deceptive content. Useful controls include phishing-resistant authentication, secure payment-change procedures with independent verification, filtering and domain protections, user training focused on reporting, and rapid review of suspicious messages or transactions. Incident handling may require revoking sessions, resetting credentials, contacting financial institutions, preserving evidence, and notifying affected parties where applicable.
Manufacturing firm Orion revealed it has lost $60m in a business email compromise (BEC) scam, which targeted a non-executive employee
A cyber-attack has hit several boroughs across Greater Manchester, England, leaving thousands of residents vulnerable to a phishing scam
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.…
42-year-old Nigerian national Bamidele Omotosho has been sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison for his role in a series of cyber scams that resulted in millions of dollars in losses for U.S. citizens. [...]
Bad guys claim they're cops, keep you on hold for hours until you pay to make loved ones' crimes go away A woman in the Indian city of Delhi last week found herself under "digital arrest" – a form of scam in which victims make payments to criminals posing as law enforcement officers.…
X has always had a bot problem, but now scammers are utilizing the Ukraine war and earthquake warnings in Japan to entice users into clicking on fake content warnings and videos that lead to scam adult sites, malicious browser extensions, and shady affiliate sites. [...]