Robocall scams more prolific than ever
Robocall spam has surged to 12 billion calls per month globally. Bank account, credit card and extortion are common scams, according to Hiya, a company that makes apps to fend off unwanted calls.
According to Hiya's first Global Robocall Radar Report, global spam calls grew 325 percent from a year ago to 85 billion. Hiya's estimate is based on an analysis of 12 billion calls per month globally.
UK, Spain, Italy, France and Argentina were the countries with the most robocalls. Like spam, robocalls have proliferated because scammers get just enough victims to rake in profits. The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have been looking at ways to curb robocalls, which are one of the top consumer complaints in the U.S.
The ... Read More
Cyber attacks are dirt cheap
Deloitte says the cost of committing a cyber attack is so surprisingly low that anyone can afford to be a bad guy. When you picture a cybercriminal organization today, you should be thinking about a group of individuals who run their operations like a business; concerned with profit and loss, looking for ways to execute as inexpensively as possible, while yielding the largest return. But what you don’t necessarily need to have in that vision is an organization with a large cash reserve.
According to Deloitte’s newest report, Black-market ecosystem: Estimating the cost of “Pwnership”, the cost of running a campaign is so low, it’s downright reasonable as a business model for even the smallest cybercriminal business.
Some cyber attack examples from the report ... Read More
Identity theft scammers offer low-interest rate credit cards
Scammers have committed identity theft by stealing large amounts of personal and financial information from thousands of people. They place fraudulent phone calls and offer lower interest rates on credit cards, an investigation by CBC’s Marketplace has found.
The scammers request a service charge between $500 and $5000 dollars to reduce the victim’s interest rate. The victim is required to supply their name, date of birth and address, as well as their credit card number, expiration date and CVV number.
Originated in Pakistan
Marketplace obtained a leaked list of records from an illegal call center in Pakistan, which “contained a wealth of sensitive personal information, including credit card numbers, social insurance numbers, addresses, maiden names, employer names, and annual incomes.” The ... Read More