Recently, our team exposed sophisticated scam kits designed to steal sensitive data and trick consumers. But underground marketplaces are not just for malware and stolen passwords. They also offer services designed to manipulate your opinion of the products and services you buy every day. In our latest research, we examined cybercrime forums where sellers advertise illicit “reputation management” services. For the right price, these underground operators offer to flood a product with glowing,…
Elections give scammers plenty to work with: urgent deadlines, familiar faces, passionate supporters, and messages asking people to take action. Some want you to “fix” your voter registration. Others want a donation, an answer to a survey, or payment for merchandise supposedly endorsed by your favorite politician. The details change, but the objective stays the same: get your money, your personal information, or both. Here are five election-themed scams to watch out for. Scam 1. “We’ll help you…
The warnings are everywhere these days. Don’t click this. Don’t open that. Don’t scan this. Don’t download that. These messages of caution, however well-intended, are so ubiquitous and constant that it should come as no surprise that some people have started to tune them out. How many people? About one in three, according to our recent study. Keeping up with every warning can feel exhausting. Meanwhile, scammers are finding new ways to target people and phones give them plenty of opportunities.…
A Cash App account opened in her name has left Amanda Smith facing criminal charges and potentially up to six years in prison. 404 Media reports that Smith says someone used her Social Security number (SSN) and date of birth to create an account that received money from a Facebook Marketplace scam. Allegedly, a buyer sent $1,000 for items that weren’t really for sale. A scammer had taken over someone else’s Facebook account and directed the buyer to pay a Cash App account in Smith’s name.…
Compare 10 email security platforms for phishing, BEC and automated response, plus workforce protection across training, devices and AI use. Category: DevSec Tools & Comparisons
This week on the Lock and Code podcast… At just 17 years old, Jordan DeMay was murdered by strangers online. That’s how Jordan’s father, John DeMay, described what happened to his son four years ago. At home in Michigan, Jordan was readying for a weekend trip when he received a friend request on Instagram. The invite was sent by a user named “dani.robertts” whose profile showed an attractive young woman. After accepting the request, Jordan and the account chatted about nothing in…
AI can help you send more job applications. But when you lose track of where you’ve applied, a fake recruiter’s message can start to look like the reply you’ve been waiting for. Job hunting can feel like shouting into the void. You send applications, rewrite cover letters, and wait for replies that may never arrive. Then a message lands on your phone: someone wants to talk about a job. But was it one of the jobs you applied for? It is hard to keep track when you’ve sent out a lot of them. Two…
Maybe it’s a text saying your package couldn’t be delivered, with a link to reschedule. Or an email from your bank asking you to verify your account. Or perhaps it’s an invitation from someone you know to view a document. The message looks real enough, but something about the link feels fishy. Do you click it? Malwarebytes Scam Link Check is a new free tool that lets you check a suspicious link before you click. Simply paste the link into Scam Link Check, and Malwarebytes will scan it for signs…
Learn how business email compromise (BEC) attacks work, the warning signs to watch for, and how Huntress stops BEC with 24/7 identity threat detection.
Scammers are finding different ways to use personal details exposed in data breaches to lure people into conversations. Last week, we showed how a Facebook Marketplace listing used the recipient’s name to make a text asking “Is this still available?” more convincing. The one we got this week was a lot simpler. No suspicious link. No overdue payment. No warning that your account is about to be closed. No fake images. Just your name, followed by a question mark. It’s a remarkably small opening…
According to Google, attackers compromised infrastructure behind three country-code domain namespaces—.gh (Ghana), .sl (Sierra Leone), and .as (American Samoa)—and used it to obtain unauthorized HTTPS certificates for Google domains and other organizations. These domain endings aren’t limited to sites serving those countries, so the risk can extend to users elsewhere. This wasn’t a break in encryption, and Google’s systems weren’t compromised. Instead, attackers manipulated the internet’s…
Free Mobile, one of France’s main cellular providers, was fined €27 million by France’s data protection regulator, the CNIL, in January over failures to protect customer data. The October 2024 breach allowed an unauthorized party to access sensitive customer records, including bank account details and login information. Since the breach, we’ve seen many poorly written scam campaigns targeting Free Mobile customers. However, over the past few weeks, a well-written scam has appeared, closely…
Free Mobile, one of France’s main cellular providers, was fined €27 million by France’s data protection regulator, the CNIL, in January over failures to protect customer data. The October 2024 breach allowed an unauthorized party to access sensitive customer records, including bank account details and login information. Since the breach, we’ve seen many poorly written scam campaigns targeting Free Mobile customers. However, over the past few weeks, a well-written scam has appeared, closely…
LinkedIn is adding trust and verification features aimed at making fake professional identities, invented work histories, and company impersonation harder to pull off. The company is responding to an environment in which generative AI enables imposters to create an entirely made-up professional persona. It reduces the cost of creating convincing headshots, biographies, résumés, outreach messages, and recommendations. LinkedIn’s new features use verified people and company Pages to help check…
Most of us click on search results without knowing much about the website we’re about to visit. And once we’re there, it’s not always obvious when something isn’t quite right. Now, we’ve added two new features to Malwarebytes Browser Guard that will do even more to keep you safe online. Search Reputation gives you a quick read on your search results, before you even click on anything. And with Scam Guard Lite, you can analyze the contents of a webpage directly from the Browser Guard extension…
Researchers at Zimperium’s zLabs have analyzed an Android Trojan that uses an automated, multi-stage infection process. What’s new is that RatHat gives a live AI assistant the keys to the accessibility tree of the infected device and uses it to determine where to tap or scroll, rather than following a hardcoded script. The variable attack path makes it harder for signature- and rule-based mobile security tools to detect this Trojan. It also abuses Android Debug Bridge (ADB), a legitimate tool…
Parcel delivery phishing campaigns appear around the world under different courier names. In the United States, the messages commonly impersonate USPS and claim that a package has an invalid address or could not be delivered. Similar messages impersonate Colissimo and Chronopost in France, Correos in Spain, Poste Italiane in Italy, and PostNL in the Netherlands. The details vary, but the aim is usually the same: to persuade you to visit a fake courier website and provide personal and financial…
Only days after Revolut acknowledged that it disclosed sensitive customer records to an unauthorized party, affected customers are receiving phishing texts. However, we don’t know yet if the phishing texts are linked to the breach. The company had accepted fraudulent information requests sent from an email address on a legitimate government agency domain. Through this social engineering attack, rather than by gaining access to Revolut’s systems, the criminals obtained the following types of…
Since early May 2026, we’ve been monitoring a large phishing campaign based on T-Mobile rewards points. The messages falsely warn that a customer’s rewards points are about to expire. They aren’t legitimate account notices: They use urgency, invented point balances, and phishing links to push recipients into acting before they can verify the claim. A typical message says that a T-Mobile Rewards account holds 18,400 points, gives an imminent expiry date, and states that unused points will be…
Most fraud platforms only see a threat once it becomes a transaction. This guide compares the top 5 fraud prevention platforms for banks and fintechs in 2026, including Group-IB, Feedzai, Sift, DataVisor, and Kount, and what actually separates them.
Antivirus renewal scams often begin with a message claiming that your subscription has automatically renewed. When you follow the instructions to cancel it, you are taken to a fake page designed to collect your contact details. The renewal charge never existed. Receiving a message that names the antivirus software you use does not necessarily mean the sender has access to your device or account. Scammers impersonate popular brands and send the same message to large numbers of people, knowing…
Researchers at Group-IB found that the Android banking Trojan Gigabud can create a separate work profile on an infected phone and run a cloned banking app inside it. The attacker can then carry out fraudulent transactions in the new profile, potentially separating them from signs of malware detected elsewhere on the device. To do this, Gigabud installs Vwork, a malicious version of the legitimate open-source tool Shelter. Shelter normally lets Android users isolate apps or run second copies of…
Every wave of technology excitement creates a new opportunity for cyberattackers, and AI is no exception. Microsoft Threat Intelligence has published research showing a growing set of campaigns that impersonate popular AI platforms and tools, including ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, DeepSeek, and Claude.1 The goal is to make phishing, search-driven malware campaigns, and malvertising—which is malicious advertising that uses online ads to lure users to harmful sites, downloads, or redirect…
Scammers are abusing Meta’s copyright-reporting system to suspend people’s Instagram accounts and then hold them for ransom, according to the BBC. Criminals file fake copyright complaints with Instagram, claiming that an account is using material it doesn’t own. Repeated complaints can trigger a temporary account suspension from the platform, locking out the victim even though they haven’t done anything wrong. The criminal then moves the conversation to another platform, such as Telegram, and…
This week on the Lock and Code podcast… Crooks are taking a holiday. They’re counting on you to fund it. For decades, cybercriminals have stolen roughly the same types of data. Biographical and personal details—like Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, and phone numbers—can be stolen to commit identity fraud. Credit card numbers, expiration dates, and CVC codes can be stolen to make fraudulent purchases. Usernames and passwords can, in the wrong hands, let a cybercriminal impersonate…
In a tech support scam, criminals pretend to work for a trusted technology or security company. They claim there is a problem with your device, software, subscription, or account, then try to persuade you to pay them, share personal information, or give them remote access to your computer. These scams used to rely mainly on browser locks and fake virus warnings. Now, scammers use many more ways to reach people, including websites and platforms they trust. How tech support scams reach you As…
Scammers are becoming more strategic about where they target people. Nine in ten toll scams—the fake unpaid-toll messages that threaten fines or license suspension—arrive by email or text, while roughly six in ten romance scams show up first on social media. That’s no coincidence. Rather than blasting the same message everywhere, criminals are tailoring different scams to the platforms where they’re most likely to succeed. This finding comes from Malwarebytes’ own threat research systems and…
Researchers have uncovered ToxicPanda 2.0, an Android banking Trojan and remote-access tool designed for account takeover and “on-device fraud.” Not only does ToxicPanda 2.0 have a much larger target list of banks and e-wallets, it has also expanded its capabilities by combining banking overlays, remote access, PIN capture, Android accessibility abuse, and attempted Wireless Debugging automation. Together, those functions can help operators turn a compromised phone into a platform for account…
Key Takeaways Two real-world cloud attacks reached meaningful impact in less than ten minutes despite pursuing entirely different objectives. Both attackers treated the environment as a connected system, using existing permissions and relationships to expand their reach. Reconnaissance increasingly focuses on understanding access and capability rather than discovering vulnerable assets. AI is compressing the gap between discovery, decision-making, and execution for cloud attackers. The interval…
Most business email compromise (BEC) attacks start with stolen credentials, not a malicious email. Group-IB uses threat intelligence to detect compromised accounts before attackers log in — predicting BEC before it starts.
Meet Huntress Reseller Sales Manager Cody Browning. Learn how his grandmother's vishing scam inspired his career and fuels our mission to bring human-led cybersecurity to all businesses.
Huntress’ AI-Centric SOC recently stopped a MacSync infostealer attack on a macOS device. The malware attempted to scrape credentials, browser cookies, and crypto wallets, but Huntress contained the threat before any data was sent to the attacker. Learn how we did it.