Scammers Are Now Scamming Fellow Scammers On Cybercrime Forums, Analysis Shows
A new analysis claims that cybercriminals are getting duped by their own clan - with losses of up to thousands of dollars at a time.
What if we told you that scammers are now scamming fellow scammers? A new analysis claims that cybercriminals are getting duped by their own clan - with losses of up to thousands of dollars at a time.
When they lodge their complaints with authorities, they're also putting themselves at risk of revealing their real-world identities to investigators, Wired reported.
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Scammers scamming scammers
It's not unusual for hackers and cybercriminals to convene on secret groups to exchange intel and information. This is where they also put up stolen information on sale - stuff like credit card details, stolen passwords, etc.
A new research published by cybersecurity firm Sophos claims that "scammers scamming scammers on criminal forums and marketplaces is much bigger," as stated by Matt Wixey from the firm.
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To reach this conclusion, Wixey analysed three cybercrime forums: Russian language forums Exploit and XSS, along with English forum BreachForums. All these forums, according to Sophos, have an "arbitration" room to air their concerns about other criminals.
Also read: Security Report: Ransomware Targets Grandparents While Scammers Prefer Youngsters
Criminals on these forums have lost over $2.5 million to other scammers in just the last 12 months. The median scams on each site ranges from $200 to $600, the research claims.
Various kinds of scams are being undertaken by scammers against fellow scammers including the "rip-and-run" scams wherein the buyer doesn't pay for the goods or the seller takes the money and runs.
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Other scams include faked data or security exploits that simply don't work. It could be as simple as promising you confidential data which later turns out to be public.
Wixey told Wired that criminals complaining about being scammed in arbitration rooms can provide invaluable intelligence to authorities looking to nab these bad actors.
Also read: Crypto Scammers Target iPhone Users On Tinder, Bumble Dating Apps
It's in these rooms they share proof of exchanges - crypto addresses, transaction IDs, email IDs, names of their victims, and malware source code among various things.
What do you think about scammers scamming scammers? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.
References
Wixey, M., & Wixey, M. (2022, December 7). The scammers who scam scammers on cybercrime forums: Part 1. Sophos News. https://news.sophos.com/en-us/2022/12/07/the-scammers-who-scam-scammers-on-cybercrime-forums-part-1/
Burgess, M. (2022, December 7). Scammers Are Scamming Other Scammers Out of Millions of Dollars. WIRED. https://www.wired.com/story/cybercrime-hackers-scams-forums/
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