Criminals are running online rackets worldwide through deepfakes, romance scams, and crypto scams: NortonLifeLock
Criminals are running online rackets worldwide through deepfakes, romance scams, and crypto scams: NortonLifeLock
Global cybersecurity services provider NortonLifeLock said on Wednesday it blocked more than 18,013,055 threats — the equivalent of about 195,794 per day — in India in the first three months of 2022.
Of those, 59,907 were phishing attempts and 31,062 were tech support fraud attempts, the company said, adding that cybercriminals are now tricking victims with deepfakes and crypto scams to access financial or personal information.
Globally, the company blocked more than 1 billion attacks in the three months to March, or more than 11 million attacks per day.
NortonLifeLock highlighted three different ways criminals perpetrate online scams worldwide – deepfakes, romance scams and crypto scams. Deepfakes are used by bad actors to scam consumers and spread disinformation. Norton Labs team has discovered deepfakes used to create fake social media profiles, fuel charity scams and other deceptive tricks, and spread propaganda related to the ongoing war in Ukraine, in addition to deepfakes that simply used to create funny videos.
Norton Labs also tracked $29 million worth of bitcoin stolen in 2021 and expects that number to continue rising in 2022 as the value of the crypto market rises and scammers take advantage of world events, including the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine to steal donations from philanthropic crypto investors.
“New threats emerge when cybercriminals combine tactics. By presenting realistic disinformation about deepfakes in a phishing scam that collects cryptocurrency payments, a consumer would have little to no recourse,” reads a blog.
The third channel is the love scam that preys on vulnerable people looking for love and connection. Scammers adopt fake online identities to carefully select potential targets, often favoring recently widowed or divorced victims. Once scammers find a victim, they take the time to cultivate the illusion of a romantic relationship in order to gain the victim’s trust with the aim of manipulating and stealing them.
“Romance scammers are highly skilled scammers; They know exactly what to say to make the victim feel important and loved. As a result, to the untrained eye, these scammers can be very believable and convincing,” she added.
