Scammers hijack websites of popular brands to insert fake phone number


Cybercriminals frequently use fake search engine listings to take advantage of our trust in popular brands, and then scam us. It often starts, as with so many attacks, with a sponsored search result on Google.

In the latest example of this type of scam, we found tech support scammers hijacking the results of people looking for 24/7 support for Apple, Bank of America, Facebook, HP, Microsoft, Netflix, and PayPal. Here’s how it works: Cybercriminals pay for a sponsored ad on Google pretending to be a major brand. Often, this ad leads people to a fake website. However, in the cases we recently found, the visitor is taken to the legitimate site with a small difference.

Read more…
Source: Malwarebytes Labz


Sign up for our Newsletter
The latest news and insights delivered right to your inbox.


Related:

  • Tulsa warns of data breach after Conti ransomware leaks police citations

    June 23, 2021

    The City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is warning residents that their personal data may have been exposed after a ransomware gang published police citations online. In early May, Tulsa suffered a ransomware attack that led to the City shutting down its network to prevent the spread of the malware. The attack disrupted Tulsa’s online bill payment systems, utility ...

  • Russia to work with US on identifying hackers as part of an agreement, FSB chief says

    June 23, 2021

    Russia will cooperate with the United States in the field of identifying ransomware hackers as part of an agreement between the two countries’ presidents, Director of Russia’s Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov said in his opening remarks at the IX Moscow Conference on International Security. “We are carrying out steps as part of the agreements reached ...

  • Ever101 ransomware payment traced to a sensual massage site

    June 22, 2021

    A ransomware targeting an Israeli company has led researchers to track a portion of a ransom payment to a website promoting sensual massages. The attack was conducted by a more recent ransomware operation known as Ever101 who compromised an Israeli computer farm and proceeded to encrypt its devices. Read more… Source: Bleeping Computer  

  • Conti Ransomware Gang: An Overview

    June 18, 2021

    Conti ransomware stands out as one of the most ruthless of the dozens of ransomware gangs that we follow. The group has spent more than a year attacking organizations where IT outages can have life-threatening consequences: hospitals, 911 dispatch carriers, emergency medical services and law enforcement agencies. Ireland has yet to recover from an attack ...

  • Fake DarkSide Campaign Targets Energy and Food Sectors

    June 18, 2021

    The ransomware attack on the major fuel supply company Colonial Pipeline recently made headlines. The incident has been attributed to the DarkSide threat actor, once again thrusting the group’s name into the spotlight. With this, it would not be surprising to find threat actors taking advantage of this incident for their own socially-engineered campaigns. Several companies ...

  • A deep dive into the operations of the LockBit ransomware group

    June 18, 2021

    Researchers have provided an in-depth look at how LockBit, one of the newer ransomware groups on the scene, operates. Ransomware has become one of the most disruptive forms of cyberattack this year. It was back in 2017 with the global WannaCry outbreak that we first saw the severe disruption the malware could cause, and in 2021, ...