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Fraud

Black Friday: Loved by Shoppers and Fraudsters Alike

For some, Black Friday conjures images of parasite-infected shoppers running amok in a mall. (Rotten Tomatoes gives the movie a 65% rating). For bargain hunters, it is a whirlwind of unbeatable deals and frenzied shopping sprees. Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the year’s biggest days for American merchants. The hype has crossed borders.

$9 million seized from "pig butchering" scammers who preyed on lonely hearts

US authorities have seized almost $9 million worth of cryptocurrency linked to a gang engaged in cryptocurrency investment fraud and romance scams. The US Department of Justice has announced that the seized funds are connected to cryptocurrency wallet addresses alleged to be associated with a "pig butchering" gang that has claimed over 70 victims around the world. "Pig butchering" is one of the world's fastest-growing types of scams.

Digital Skimming Increases by 50%, Just in Time for the Holiday Season

Security researchers identify growth in the use of an ongoing cyberskimming campaign that involves compromising legitimate website checkout code. We’ve all seen a video that shows someone fidgeting with a credit card terminal only to pull off a very realistic molded cover that looks identical to the actual device beneath it complete with its own circuitry to read and store credit card swipes. Now take that very same idea and put it into the digital world.

Thanksgiving Cyber feast: Safeguarding against seasonal scams

As the Thanksgiving season rapidly approaches, many look forward to the warmth of family gatherings, the aroma of roasted turkey, and the joy of gratitude. Yet, just as we prepare our homes and hearts for this festive season, cybercriminals are gearing up to unleash a different kind of feast—a cyber feast—rife with sophisticated scams targeting unsuspecting individuals and businesses alike.

Is It Safe To Accept Zelle Payments From Strangers?

No, it is not safe to accept Zelle payments from strangers because there is always the possibility of the stranger being a scammer. If the stranger is a scammer, then you could end up losing money by accepting a Zelle payment from them. It’s best to only use Zelle to send and receive payments from people you know and trust.

With Expected Increases of Holiday Sales Comes Similar Expectations of More Cyber Scams

If increases in cyberattacks this year are any indication of what to expect in the next six weeks of holiday shopping, we should expect a massive uptick in holiday-related scams. The expectation by the National Retail Foundation for this year’s holiday shopping is that we will see 4% more spending than last year. This is a slight year over year decrease (as last year saw a 5.4% increase over 2021), but still indicates increases in spending.

Why Scammers Love the Holidays, and How to Stop Holiday Phishing Risks

For phishing scammers, the holidays are the most wonderful time of the year – or so holiday phishing trends would suggest. Cyberint research shows that phishing alerts surged by 46 percent last December compared to the monthly average observed throughout the year. Similarly, an Akamai study found a 150 percent increase in phishing victims between mid-October and late November 2021.

Fraud Prevention Tips

To prevent becoming a victim of fraud, you should always keep your data in a secure location, protect your online accounts with strong passwords and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), sign up for a dark web monitoring service to receive dark web alerts, learn to spot phishing scams and more. Continue reading to learn more about fraud prevention tips you should be following.

Don't check out! - Credit card skimming activity observed

Our friends at BlackBerry recently released an in-depth blog post on a campaign by threat actors targeting online payment businesses that discusses what happens from initial compromise to the skimmer scripts themselves. You can read their blog here. This blog is focused on what we found across the AT&T Cybersecurity customer base as we looked for the indicators of compromise (IOCs) identified in the BlackBerry blog and on the quick-follow up analysis we performed and provided to our customers.