INTERPOL Arrests 1,209 Cybercriminals Across 18 African Nations in Global Crackdown

INTERPOL on Friday announced that authorities from 18 countries across Africa have arrested 1,209 cybercriminals who targeted 88,000 victims. "The crackdown recovered $97.4 million and dismantled 11,432 malicious infrastructures, underscoring the global reach of cybercrime and the urgent need for...

Europol Denies $50K Reward for Qilin Ransomware, Calls It a Scam

Europol has confirmed that a widely reported $50,000 reward for information on the Qilin ransomware group is a…...

493 Cases of Sextortion Against Children Linked to Notorious Scam Compounds

Scam compounds in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos have conned people out of billions. New research shows they may be linked to child sextortion crimes too...

A week in security (August 11 – August 17)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Italian hotels breached for tens of thousands of scanned IDs National Public Data returns after massive Social Security Number leak Romance scammers in Ghana charged with more than $100 million in theft Netflix scammers target jobseekers to trick them into handing...

Netflix Job Phishing Scam Steals Facebook Login Data

Beware of fake Netflix job offers! A new phishing campaign is targeting job seekers, using fraudulent interviews to…...

Scam hunter scammed by tax office impersonators

The next time you shake your head at another online scam and vow that you'd never fall for it, remember that even the most tech-savvy people can sometimes slip up. A case in point: Julie-Anne Kearns. This self-made scam-hunter told her story to the Guardian last week, revealing how she had been...

AI Tools Fuel Brazilian Phishing Scam While Efimer Trojan Steals Crypto from 5,000 Victims

Cybersecurity researchers are drawing attention to a new campaign that's using legitimate generative artificial intelligence AI-powered website building tools like DeepSite AI and BlackBox AI to create replica phishing pages mimicking Brazilian government agencies as part of a financially motivat...

ScamAgents: How AI Agents Can Simulate Human-Level Scam Calls

Large Language Models LLMs have demonstrated impressive fluency and reasoning capabilities, but their potential for misuse has raised growing concern. In this paper, we present ScamAgent, an autonomous multi-turn agent built on top of LLMs, capable of generating highly realistic scam call scripts...

Google Confirms Salesforce Data Breach by ShinyHunters via Vishing Scam

Google confirms a data breach by ShinyHunters hackers, who used a vishing scam to access a Salesforce database with small business customer info...

How Google, Adidas, and more were breached in a Salesforce scam

At the heart of multiple data breaches against sophisticated and robust companies, including Google, Adidas, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel, was a rudimentary attack method that required little technical finesse—making a phone call. By disguising themselves as IT support personnel on the phone, hacker...

An Overview of 7726 User Reports: Uncovering SMS Scams and Scammer Strategies

Mobile network operators implement firewalls to stop illicit messages, but scammers find ways to evade detection. Previous work has looked into SMS texts that are blocked by these firewalls. However, there is little insight into SMS texts that bypass them and reach users. To this end, we...

Alleged ‘tap-in’ scammer advertised services on social media

Would you give a complete stranger your credit card in return for the promise of easy money? No, neither would we. But apparently well over a hundred people did. Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office arrested 24 year-old Janetcilize Martinez in Tampa, FL, for allegedly using willing participants'...

15,000 Fake TikTok Shop Domains Deliver Malware, Steal Crypto via AI-Driven Scam Campaign

Cybersecurity researchers have lifted the veil on a widespread malicious campaign that's targeting TikTok Shop users globally with an aim to steal credentials and distribute trojanized apps. "Threat actors are exploiting the official in-app e-commerce platform through a dual attack strategy that...

A week in security (July 28 – August 3)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Apple ID scam leads to $27,000 in-person theft of Ohio man OpenAI kills "short-lived experiment" where ChatGPT chats could be found on Google Trump Administration and Big Tech want you to share your health data Prison visitor details shared with all inmates at...

Apple ID scam leads to $27,000 in-person theft of Ohio man

You've probably heard about people scamming from halfway around the world, but sometimes they turn up at your door. That's what happened in May, when 67 year-old Robert Wise of Ohio received a text telling him that his Apple ID had been compromised. It had been used at an Apple store for a $213...

That seemingly innocent text is probably a scam

A special thanks to all the people at Malwarebytes and ThreatDown for sharing the text messages they received from scammers. Many of us have received texts like these. Often super short, some flirty, some with a business tone, or sometimes just a simple ‘hello.’ You don't know the sender, and the...

Scammers Unleash Flood of Slick Online Gaming Sites

Fraudsters are flooding Discord and other social media platforms with ads for hundreds of polished online gaming and wagering websites that lure people with free credits and eventually abscond with any cryptocurrency funds deposited by players. Here's a closer look at the social engineering tacti...

Malicious ISO File Used in Romance Scam Targeting German Speakers

Sublime Security reveals a cunning romance/adult-themed scam targeting German speakers, leveraging Keitaro TDS to deliver an AutoIT-based malware loader. Learn how this sophisticated campaign operates, its deceptive tactics, and the hidden payload...

A week in security (July 21 – July 27)

A list of topics we covered in the week of July 21 to July 27 of 2025 Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Steam games abused to deliver malware once again Watch out: Instagram users targeted in novel phishing campaign Age verification: Child protection or privacy risk? iPhone vs. Android: iPhone user...

Arizona Woman Jailed for Helping North Korea in $17M IT Job Scam

Arizona woman jailed 8.5 years for aiding North Korea's $17 million IT job scam, defrauding over 300 US companies. Learn how to protect your business from such sophisticated cybersecurity threats...