Archive for the ‘scam’ Category

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FBI Arrests Four Hackers Hired to Infiltrate AT&T

By Dawn in Crime, Debugging - Electronic Countermeasures, Hacking, Investigations, MSI Detective Services, scam, Technology at December 6th, 2011 | No comments

Earlier this year, the FBI discovered a Saudi group had funded hackers to target AT&T. The FBI enlisted the help of the Philippine’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group’s (CIDG) International cyber-crime division (ATCCD) to investigate the attack. The group was suspected of having ties to terrorist organizations, although details were never officially disclosed.

Earlier last week, AT&T claimed to be investigating an intrusion attempt on its system. However, the company said it did not believe any accounts were compromised. Reports are now surfacing that AT&T has been working with the FBI and Philippine law enforcement to apprehend attackers, although a link between the two events has not been confirmed.

The CIDG stated, “The hacking activity resulted in almost $2 million in losses incurred by the company,” referring to AT&T’s involvement as a target of the attack.

An AT&T spokeswoman, Jan Rasmussen, denied any breach of security by claiming, “AT&T and its network were neither targeted nor breached by the hackers. AT&T only assisted law enforcement in the investigation that led to the arrest of a group of hackers.”

Jan Rasmussen’s statement seems to directly contradict the earlier statement by the CIDG and another statement by AT&T saying the company, “ended up writing off some fraudulent charges that appeared on customer bills.” Given these contradictions, it is impossible to determine to what extent AT&T’s network was hacked, if at all.

The four men arrested were Filipino and funded by a group formerly headed by Muhammad Zamir, a South East Asian militant. Zamir has a colorful history with financial ties to Al Qaeda and funding the terrorist bombing of Mumbai, India on November 26, 2008. One of the men detained was identified as Paul Michael Kwan, a suspect previously convicted of illegal militant activity in 2007.

The CIDG said suspects hacked PBX lines from various telecommunications companies to steal money and divert it into the bank accounts of terrorists. The hackers were to be paid commission, based upon how much money they could funnel to accounts.

Read story@ techspot

 

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Chinese Counterfeit Parts Found in U.S. Weapons

By Dawn in Investigations, MSI Detective Services, Politics, scam, Security, Technology at November 15th, 2011 | No comments

We are all familiar with the influx of knockoff designer goods being sent to the U.S. and the crackdown on the criminal rings who are smuggling these goods into the U.S. Although this problem hurts our economy and supports slave labor, it is not as frightening as the recent discovery that counterfeit parts are being used in our weapons.

A months-long congressional probe found at least 1,800 cases of counterfeit electronics in U.S. weapons, with the total number of suspect parts exceeding 1 million.

The results of the investigation, conducted by the Senate Armed Services Committee, were recently presented at a hearing where senators grilled defense contractors about lapses in monitoring their parts supply chain.

In more than 70 percent of the cases in which investigators traced parts back to their source, the trail led to China. And nearly 20 percent of the remainder were traced to Britain and Canada — resale points for counterfeit Chinese parts, Senate staffers said. Read the full article »

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Feds Indict 7 in Massive Click-Fraud Scheme That Hit 4 Million Computers

By Dawn in Electronic Fraud, Electronic Theft, Hacking, Investigations, MSI Detective Services, scam, Technology at November 10th, 2011 | No comments

Of all the various types of stories we cover on this blog, I find computer hacking schemes to be the most fascinating. Maybe it’s because I was once the victim of computer hacking. I find this story particularly interesting because I can recall working on my computer and being directed to “fake websites.” For example, when I log into my email account, the url address should begin with ”https” – “s” being important as this means when you type in your password, you should be on a secure site. Not only was the “s” missing, but the url address was unfamiliar to me. Banks will also use secure sites for entering your password. I didn’t catch this the first time and was directed to an email page that looked like it had been designed by a 7th grader.

I have since installed a monitoring software that includes a firewall where you can set your own preferences. It tracks all activity on my computer and you can save the activity in logs.

I realize we all have enough to track in our busy lives, but if you suspect your computer’s behavior is a bit “off,” you may want to watch the url address bar just to see if something doesn’t look right to you. This “Click-Fraud Scheme” story isn’t an identical situation to my experience, but I share it because it is along the same lines – computer hacking. Hackers will use various means to gain your personal information or money. It seems like we are constantly hearing of new, creative methods being used by these crooks to gain access to computers.

A band of Estonian and Russia cybercriminals infected at least 4 million computers worldwide with a virus and used a complex ad click-fraud scheme to pocket $14 million, federal authorities alleged Wednesday.

Consumers caught up in the scheme — including at least 500,000 victims in the U.S. — were unaware that their everyday Web browsing contributed to the scheme. When infected users visited popular Web sites like Apple’s iTunes, Netflix, ESPN.com or WSJ.com, advertisements in the sites were replaced by ads controlled by the hackers, earning them illicit gains through advertising affiliate arrangements. The scam is sometimes called “advertising replacement fraud.” Read the full article »

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New online scams take advantage of Steve Jobs’ Death

By admin in Electronic Fraud, scam at October 8th, 2011 | No comments

As millions around the world mourn the loss of Apple co-founder and visionary Steve Jobs, opportunistic online crooks have already begun to cook up schemes exploiting the tragedy for their own benefit.

One such scam, spotted by researcher Dmitri Bestuzhev from the security firm Kaspersky Lab, is a fake contest you can enter for the chance to win “1 of 15 MacBook Pros in memory of Steve Jobs!” Beneath the enticing offer is a space to enter your email address; while you won’t win a new laptop, the chances of you winning a whole new batch of spam emails are high.

Another part of the scam Bestuzhev found was the chance to see exclusive photos and video footage from Steve Jobs’ funeral. Below a header reading, “The Life, Death, and Legacy of Steve Jobs,” the message says, “Video footage and images will be here uploaded live from the funeral ceremony. Check back each day to see if they are posted.”

These scams are similar to one found spreading on Facebook Thursday claiming that 50 free iPads are being given away in memory of the former Apple chief executive officer. The messages come from an account named “R.I.P. Steve Jobs,” according to the security firm Sophos, and redirect those who fall for the trick first to a survey page, and then to an online casino website. Read the full article »

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