The FBI warns the public about criminals targeting US stock investors through social media platforms and messaging service applications (apps). The scheme, known as a “ramp-and-dump” stock manipulation, targets US investors through online engagement, often via social media advertisements or messages promoting an “investment club” of fellow investors, some of which may be bots or fake accounts.
These promotions typically direct victims to secure messaging apps where the group operates. To appear credible, perpetrators may impersonate legitimate brokerage firms or well-known stock analysts. They secretly control a large volume of a low-priced stock and coordinate efforts to inflate its price (“ramp up”) by encouraging investment club members to purchase shares over a period of several weeks or months. Once the price is artificially elevated, the criminals sell off (“dump”) their shares at a profit, leaving unsuspecting investors with significant losses as the stock value collapses.
Read more…
Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division
Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.
Related:
- US airman pleads guilty to leaking classified documents
March 5, 2024
Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard charged with leaking classified military documents on a social media platform, pleaded guilty on Monday to carrying out one of the most serious U.S. national security breaches in years. The 22-year-old pleaded guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of classified information relating to ...
- North Carolina: Around £2.1 million has been stolen from the housing agency as the US Secret Service is investigating
March 3, 2024
It is a little-known clothing firm based out of an anonymous residential street in Scotland’s biggest city, with overflowing bags and boxes of rubbish piled up outside its front door. But a Glasgow company is at the centre of a multi-million pound fraud investigation by the US Secret Service into millions of public money that was ...
- LockBit cyberattack: Fulton County refuses to pay ransom as deadline passes
March 1, 2024
Fulton County leaders say they have not paid any ransom to the criminal group claiming responsibility for the cyberattack that affected several of the county’s agencies. The group LockBit had set a deadline of 8:49 a.m. on Thursday for Fulton County to pay the ransom or risk having stolen data leaked onto the dark web. This ...
- US prescription market hamstrung for 9 days (so far) by ransomware attack
March 1, 2024
Nine days after a Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate took down the biggest US health care payment processor, pharmacies, health care providers, and patients were still scrambling to fill prescriptions for medicines, many of which are lifesaving. On Thursday, UnitedHealth Group accused a notorious ransomware gang known both as AlphV and Black Cat of hacking its subsidiary, Optum. ...
- Cyber attack affects numerous services at most Nebraska state hospital
February 29, 2024
The Nebraska Hospital Association said most state hospitals were affected by a cyber attack. The NHA said Change Health Care was hit with the attack on Feb. 21. The technology company assists with things like prior authorizations, insurance verification and patient billing. All of those services are affected. Read more… Source: MSN News
- Pennsylvania: Welch plant in North East restarts after cyber attack shuts facility down for 3 weeks
February 28, 2024
In a statement provided to the Erie Times-News, the company said: “On Monday, we restarted our spreads production bringing more than 100 employees back to work at our North East plant. We expect additional employees to return to work over the next few days as we get more production lines running. Throughout this disruption, we’ve continued ...