Tactics such as sophisticated phishing techniques and large-scale fraud schemes of Nigerian cybercrime groups have been exposed.
The findings, published by ESET in a blog post released earlier today, show two key figures in the criminal enterprise, Solomon Ekunke Okupe and Johnson Uke Obogo, responsible for losses of up to $1 million. It is about action.
Okupe and Obogo have now been sentenced to four and one years in prison, respectively.
Read more about Okupe’s verdict: Prolific BEC scammer sentenced to 4 years in prison
According to ESET, cybercriminals used a variety of fraudulent methods before being imprisoned, including business email compromise (BEC), work from home scams, check fraud and credit card fraud.
Scammers used phishing attacks as their primary weapon to gain access to corporate email accounts and trick individuals and businesses into transferring money without authorization. It also used weak passwords to access the target’s accounts.
“Take home? Always use long, complex and unique passwords or passphrases to avoid easy guessing or brute-forcing of your access credentials,” states ESET’s report. increase.
After gaining access to the victim’s account, Okupe and his team extensively researched public information to target employees of companies associated with the victim. Cybercriminals then created personalized emails that were hard to recognize as fraudulent.
ESET also highlighted how scammers used work from home scams to prey on job seekers by pretending to be legitimate employers. They also prayed for victims using romance scam tactics.
“After gaining the trust of victims, Okupe and others used them as money mules to send money abroad and receive cash through fraudulent wire transfers,” ESET wrote.
“Many romance scammers follow the same tactics, making it easier to spot their tricks and protect against them.”
A list of recommendations aimed at protecting individuals against such scams is available on the ESET blog post.
