Thieves have been launching phishing attacks against unaware social media users in response to recent pardoned Silk Road leader Ross Ulbricht.
On Tuesday, after Ulbricht was released from a federal penitentiary, gifts started pouring in on X, and obscene stars wasted no time using the pleasure to spread frauds on X and Telegram.
For instance, one marred X accounts, shared a website in the remarks claiming to be an established Telegram channel for changes. Before being removed from X, the information received 317 likes.
The information was flagged by the VX-Underground account for security education, which alerted users of its Telegram route that the website was a ransomware installer.
” Ross Ulbricht’s X bill is being spammed”, VX-Underground wrote. The “official” Ross Ulbricht Telegram channel asks for identification verification and provides complimentary ransomware when you try to access it.
To assist users verify the legality of connections and services, Telegram offers third-party confirmation. However, this time, clicking the fictitious website created a false verification screen. In this case, scammers tricked users into installing malicious code on their devices using a Telegram small application.
Experts warn that cybercriminals are increasingly turning on famous faces and exploiting people trust to change innocent victims. Last year, cybercriminals used AI-generated pictures of Brad Pitt to con a girl out of$ 850, 000 in France.
” Celebrity-themed trojan is a perfect example of social engineering at its most successful”, John Price, CEO of cybersecurity firm SubRosa, told Decrypt. “Cybercriminals liquidity well-known numbers because they capitalize on two important aspects of human psychology: confidence and curiosity”.
According to Price, people like Ulbricht are easily recognisable and frequently elicit strong emotional reactions, which increase the likelihood that users will click on links or save attachments without questioning their worth.
” This technique works especially well on social media, where people are accustomed to informal and speedy connections, often bypassing essential scrutiny”, he said.
How many techniques were hacked by the Telegram ransomware that attempted to employ Ulbricht’s name before X suspended the account is unknown. Cost emphasized that these deceptions can go beyond just financial losses.
” Compromised products can lead to business breaches, data robbery, or worse”, he said. ” Awareness and monitoring remain the best mechanisms”.
Generally Intelligent Newsletter
A conceptual AI model’s relational AI model, Gen, tells a regular AI journey.
