Scammers hijack websites of Bank of America, Netflix, Microsoft, and more to insert fake phone number

The examples in this post are actual fraud attempts found by Malwarebytes Senior Director of Research, Jérôme Segura. 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...

Google Chrome will use AI to block tech support scam websites

Google has expressed plans to use Artificial Intelligence AI to stop tech support scams in Chrome. With the launch of Chrome version 137, Google plans to use the on-device Gemini Nano large language model LLM to recognize and block tech support scams. Users already have the ability to chose...

Google Rolls Out On-Device AI Protections to Detect Scams in Chrome and Android

Google on Thursday announced it's rolling out new artificial intelligence AI-powered countermeasures to combat scams across Chrome, Search, and Android. The tech giant said it will begin using Gemini Nano, its on-device large language model LLM, to improve Safe Browsing in Chrome 137 on desktops...

A week in security (December 2 – December 8)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Europol takes down criminal data hub Manson Market in busy month for law enforcement Americans urged to use encrypted messaging after large, ongoing cyberattack Crypto’s rising value likely to bring new wave of scams AI chatbot provider exposes 346,000 customer...

Repeat offenders drive bulk of tech support scams via Google Ads

Of all the different kinds of malicious search ads we track, those related to customer service are by far the most common. Brands such as PayPal, eBay, Apple or Netflix are among the most coveted ones as they tend to drive a lot of online searches. Tech support scammers are leveraging Google ads ...

Threat actors misusing Quick Assist in social engineering attacks leading to ransomware

June 2024 update: At the end of May 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence observed Storm-1811 using Microsoft Teams as another vector to contact target users. Microsoft assesses that the threat actor uses Teams to send messages and initiate calls in an attempt to impersonate IT or help desk...

Watch out for tech support scams lurking in sponsored search results

This blog post was written based on research carried out by Jérôme Segura. A campaign using sponsored search results is targeting home users and taking them to tech support scams. Sponsored search results are the ones that are listed at the top of search results and are labelled "Sponsored". They...

WoofLocker Toolkit Hides Malicious Codes in Images to Run Tech Support Scams

Cybersecurity researchers have detailed an updated version of an advanced fingerprinting and redirection toolkit called WoofLocker that's engineered to conduct tech support scams. The sophisticated traffic redirection scheme was first documented by Malwarebytes in January 2020, leveraging...

Malwarebytes Browser Guard introduces three new features

Malwarebytes Browser Guard is our free browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari that blocks unwanted and unsafe content, giving users a safer and faster browsing experience. It's the worlds first browser extension to do this while also identifying and stopping tech support scams. A...

How to spot and avoid a tech support scam

Despite the occasional arrests and FTC fines for tech support scammers TSS and their henchmen, there are still plenty of cybercriminals active in this field. Scams range from unsolicited calls offering help with your "infected" computer to fully-fledged websites where you can purchase heavily...

A week in security (April 17 - 23)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: Fake Chrome updates spread malware Woman tracks down and turns table on Airbnb scammer Update Chrome now! Google patches actively exploited flaw Beware: Fake IRS tax email wants your Microsoft account Ransomware in Germany, April 2022 - March 2023 Living Off the La...

FTC tackles tech support scams by chasing payment processor firms

A multinational payment processing company and two of its executives are facing a potential $650k fine as a result of allegedly processing credit card payments for tech support scammers. While this fine isnt exactly massive in comparison to some of the privacy breaches and other incidents seen do...

Massive malvertising campaign targets seniors via fake Weebly sites

Knowing their audience is something scammers excel at, and for very good reason. This is particularly true for tech support scammers whose prime targets are seniors. By understanding what retirees are searching for and abusing various online platforms, crooks can precisely go after the demographi...

Malvertising on Microsoft Edge's News Feed pushes tech support scams

While Google Chrome still dominates as the top browser, Microsoft Edge, which is based on the Chromium source code, is gradually gaining more users. Perhaps more importantly, it is the default browser on the Microsoft Windows platform and as such some segments of its user base are of particular...

Exploits and TrickBot disrupt manufacturing operations

September 2021 saw a huge spike of exploit detections against the manufacturing industry, with a distributed spread between California, Florida, Ohio, and Missouri. This is combined with heavy detections of unseen malware, identified through our AI engine, spiking in May as well as September 2021...

Taking down the IP2Scam tech support campaign

Tech support scams follow a simple business model that has not changed much over the years. After all, why change a recipe that continues to yield large profits. We see countless such campaigns and block them indiscriminately to protect our customers from being defrauded by a fraudulent tech...

Beware scammers disguised as fraud busters

Fraudsters like confusing and disorienting people. Successful ones avoid obvious lines of approach and try things you wouldnt expect. A recent story highlights this, with a particularly devious method of parting someone from their money. The Daily Record reports scammers running off with an $11,0...

A week in security (March 28 – April 3)

Last week on Malwarebytes Labs: New UAC-0056 activity: There’s a Go Elephant in the room Globant suffers network breach due to LAPSUS$ compromise Update now! Apple patches two zero-day vulnerabilities that may have been actively exploited Hive ransomware impacts California non-profit health...

Tech support scam campaign targets Japanese visitors to PornHub

The Malwarebytes Threat Intelligence team has identified a malvertising campaign targeting Japanese users. The campaign they discovered was found to be using a cloaking technique to lure visitors of popular adult site PornHub to a decoy site at the domain mixhd.club. Cloaking Cloaking is a method...

How to Prevent Customer Support Help Desk Fraud Using VPN and Other Tools

It's no secret that the internet isn't a very safe place. And it's not hard to understand why. It's a medium that connects billions of people around the world that affords bad actors enough anonymity to wreak havoc without getting caught. It's almost as if the internet's tailor-made to enable sca...