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Indian Government Rescues 250 Citizens Forced into Cybercrime in Cambodia

Indian Government Rescues 250 Citizens Forced into Cybercrime in Cambodia

Apr 01, 2024 Cryptocurrency / Financial Fraud
The Indian government said it has rescued and repatriated about 250 citizens in Cambodia who were held captive and coerced into running cyber scams. The Indian nationals "were lured with employment opportunities to that country but were forced to undertake illegal cyber work," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)  said  in a statement, adding it had rescued 75 people in the past three months. It also said it's working with "with Cambodian authorities and with agencies in India to crack down on those responsible for these fraudulent schemes." The development comes in the wake of a  report  from the Indian Express that said more than 5,000 Indians stuck in Cambodia were forced into "cyber slavery" by organized crime rackets to scam people in India and extort money by masquerading as law enforcement authorities in some cases. The report also tracks with an earlier disclosure from INTERPOL, which characterized the situation as  human trafficking-fu
Patchwork Using Romance Scam Lures to Infect Android Devices with VajraSpy Malware

Patchwork Using Romance Scam Lures to Infect Android Devices with VajraSpy Malware

Feb 05, 2024 Cyber Espionage / Cyber Extortion
The threat actor known as Patchwork likely used romance scam lures to trap victims in Pakistan and India, and infect their Android devices with a remote access trojan called  VajraSpy . Slovak cybersecurity firm ESET said it uncovered 12 espionage apps, six of which were available for download from the official Google Play Store and were collectively downloaded more than 1,400 times between April 2021 and March 2023. "VajraSpy has a range of espionage functionalities that can be expanded based on the permissions granted to the app bundled with its code," security researcher Lukáš Štefanko  said . "It steals contacts, files, call logs, and SMS messages, but some of its implementations can even extract WhatsApp and Signal messages, record phone calls, and take pictures with the camera." As many as 148 devices in Pakistan and India are estimated to have been compromised in the wild. The malicious apps distributed via Google Play and elsewhere primarily masqueraded
GenAI: A New Headache for SaaS Security Teams

GenAI: A New Headache for SaaS Security Teams

Apr 17, 2024SaaS Security / AI Governance
The introduction of Open AI's ChatGPT was a defining moment for the software industry, touching off a GenAI race with its November 2022 release. SaaS vendors are now rushing to upgrade tools with enhanced productivity capabilities that are driven by generative AI. Among a wide range of uses, GenAI tools make it easier for developers to build software, assist sales teams in mundane email writing, help marketers produce unique content at low cost, and enable teams and creatives to brainstorm new ideas.  Recent significant GenAI product launches include Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Salesforce Einstein GPT. Notably, these GenAI tools from leading SaaS providers are paid enhancements, a clear sign that no SaaS provider will want to miss out on cashing in on the GenAI transformation. Google will soon launch its SGE "Search Generative Experience" platform for premium AI-generated summaries rather than a list of websites.  At this pace, it's just a matter of a short time befo
Hundreds of BEC Scammers Arrested in Nigeria and U.S. — $3.7 Million Recovered

Hundreds of BEC Scammers Arrested in Nigeria and U.S. — $3.7 Million Recovered

Sep 11, 2019
Breaking News — The Nigerian prince and his allies who might have also asked you over an email for your assistance to help save "the first African astronaut lost in space" have finally been arrested by the FBI. Don't take it too seriously, as there's no Nigerian prince or an astronaut seeking your help. Instead, it was an infamous 'Nigerian 419' scam email template where fraudsters try to dupe you into making a quick online payment by offering a share in a large sum of money on the condition you help them transfer money out of their country. The FBI today announced the arrests of 281 suspects from around the world as part of an internationally coordinated law enforcement operation aimed at disrupting multi-billion-dollar BEC email and wire transfer scams. With no surprise, the largest number of arrests were made in Nigeria where authorities detained a total of 167 suspects, though a significant number of arrests were also made in nine other countrie
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Today's Top 4 Identity Threat Exposures: Where To Find Them and How To Stop Them

websiteSilverfortIdentity Protection / Attack Surface
Explore the first ever threat report 100% focused on the prevalence of identity security gaps you may not be aware of.
3 Nigerian Scammers Get 235-Years of Total Jail Sentence in U.S.

3 Nigerian Scammers Get 235-Years of Total Jail Sentence in U.S.

May 26, 2017
You may have heard of hilarious Nigerian scams. My all time favourite is this one: A Nigerian astronaut has been trapped in space for the past 25 years and needs $3 million to get back to Earth, Can you help? Moreover, Nigerians are also good at promising true love and happiness. But You know, Love hurts. Those looking for true love and happiness lost tens of millions of dollars over the Nigerian dating and romance scams. These criminals spend their whole day trolling the online dating sites for contact emails and then send off hundreds of thousands of fraudulent emails awaiting the victim's response. A US federal district court in Mississippi has sentenced such three Nigerian scammers to a collective 235 years in prison for their roles in a large-scale international fraud network that duped people out of tens of millions of dollars. The three Nigerian nationals were part of a 21-member gang of cyber criminals, of which six, including Ayelotan, Raheem, and Mewase,
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