Threat hunting company Group-IB published a report on a new scam scheme that they named “Classiscam.” The report reveals 40 or more groups currently running this scheme across Russia and Europe. The scheme involves a hierarchy of administrators, workers, and callers, who organize their activities through a Telegram bot.

Computer fraud, or cyber-scamming, is a multi-billion-dollar industry that affects people and organizations around the world. Since the pandemic started, cybersecurity experts have tracked a 400% rise in online scams. The world is evolving at a rapid pace and with everything getting connected and automated scammers are bound to adapt, thrive and succeed. Let’s understand the top five reasons:

According to data extracted and analyzed by Atlas VPN, the United States residents reported 168,818 imposter scam cases amounting to $299.9 million in losses in the first half of 2020 with a median loss of $694. That is more than two times less than in H1 2019 when the US consumers reported 355,866 imposter fraud cases.

The Photon Research Team of Digital Shadows has published new research highlighting a popular dark web marketplace called BitBazaar that got called out for attempted manipulation of subscriber numbers on the popular dark web platform, Dread. 

The Black Lives Matter movement is spurring record-breaking fundraising online. In fact, the Minnesota Freedom Fund pulled in more than $30 million in donations alone following the death of George Floyd. The outpouring of financial support is great for these grassroots movements; however, large numbers like these often catch the eye of opportunistic scammers, unfortunately. While Black Lives Matter supporters are advocating on the street for a cause, scammers are capitalizing on their movement for their own gain.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) warns users to remain on alert for malicious cyber activity targeting potential disaster victims and charitable donors following a hurricane.

According to the Federal Trade Commission’s Report, from January 1st through April 15th, Americans have reported losing $13.44 million dollars to fraud and they’ve received 18,235 reports related to COVID-19. To avoid coronavirus scams, it’s crucial to understand and identify the red flags and behaviors of “fear scammers.”

TransUnion released its quarterly analysis of global online fraud trends, which found that the telecommunications, e-commerce and financial services industries have been increasingly impacted.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has posted a Public Service Announcement (PSA) noting that the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has seen an increase in reports of online extortion scams during the current "stay-at-home" orders due to the COVID-19 crisis.