A research carried out by SophosLabs along with cryptocurrency intelligence firm, CipherTrace, revealed that sextortion scams are a worthwhile ente
A research carried out by SophosLabs along with cryptocurrency intelligence firm, CipherTrace, revealed that sextortion scams are a worthwhile enterprise. Between September 1, 2019, and January 31, 2020, almost $500,000 in income we gained by cybercriminals partaking in sextortion.
In accordance with the report, the modus operandi is that the scammers instructed victims by way of electronic mail that their computer systems have been hacked and that they allegedly obtained data on their historical past of visits to pornographic pages.
They then proceeded to extort the recipient of the message, asking for $800 value of Bitcoin (BTC) as cost.
Greater prison enterprises could possibly be behind the sextortion scams
The investigation revealed that most of the cybercriminals behind these scams are related to a big and arranged community. The wallets investigated by SophosLabs and CipherTrace have been discovered to be related to different prison enterprises.
SophosLabs highlighted the next within the report concerning such wallets:
“Monitoring the place bodily on this planet the cash went from these sextortion scams is a tough endeavor. Out of the 328 addresses offered, CipherTrace decided that 20 of the addresses had IP information related to them, however these addresses have been related to VPNs or Tor exit nodes — in order that they weren’t helpful in geo-locating their homeowners.”
Among the wallets traced again to darkish internet markets resembling WallStreetMarket, Hydra Market, and FeShop.
The research additionally revealed the next:
“As with many spam campaigns, the sextortion messages have been launched from botnets utilizing compromised private computer systems all all over the world, with PCs in Vietnam offering the best single share (7%). Among the messages demonstrated some new strategies being utilized by subtle spammers to evade filtering software program.”
In comparison with the income earned by ransomware assaults, SophosLabs claims that the income from spam sextortion are comparatively small. Even so, they nonetheless symbolize a big income for cybercriminals.
General development in crypto-related scams amid the coronavirus pandemic
Amid the COVID-19 disaster, the variety of crypto scams has elevated, as reported by Cointelegraph, citing an FBI press launch printed on April 13. These embrace (however aren’t restricted to) faux charities and earn a living from home scams.