Chinese students in the UK have been targeted by Chinese-speaking scammers for over a year. Redze (aka Red Thief).
As cybersecurity researcher Will Thomas (@BushidoToken) wrote in an article published last week, “RedZei scammers carefully select and research their targets to ensure that they are a wealthy victim group, ripe for exploitation. I realized I was there,” he said.
The most notable aspect of the operation is the steps taken by the threat actor to circumvent the steps taken by the user to prevent fraudulent calls. Render phone number-based phone numbers with new pay-as-you-go UK phone numbers for each wave. Blocking disabled.
Thomas pointed to the meticulous tactics employed by the scammers, in which the attackers alternated SIMs from multiple mobile carriers such as Three, O2, EE, Tesco Mobile and Telia. said there is.
There are indications that a lucrative campaign by RedZei may have started in August 2019. A report by The Guardian details a visa scam that tricked Chinese students into paying huge sums of money to avoid deportation.
The trick is to call potential targets once or twice a month from a unique UK phone number and leave an “abnormal” automated voicemail if they don’t answer the call.
Voicemail impersonates companies such as Bank of China and China Mobile, as well as the Chinese Embassy, socially engineering students into sharing personal information.
“Other themes utilized by RedZei include ‘abnormal use of NHS numbers’ and international parcels delivered by DHL, both of which are common concerns for Chinese students studying in the UK. It’s a matter of course,” said Thomas.
