In a foreclosure enforcement request, the U.S. Secret Service reveals how perpetrators stole $34,000 using counterfeit emails subscription renewal for antivirus programs.
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The forfeiture warrant now executed was filed by Special Agent Jollif of the United States Secret Service (USSS) to recover funds stolen through a fake subscription renewal email Norton, which led the perpetrator to gain access to the Computer and the victim's bank account.
According to the court document, the stolen money is stored in a Chase bank account belonging to a man named "Bingsong Zhou", which is linked to scams phishing pretending Norton Antivirus subscription renewals.
These scam emails claim that the recipient is about to be charged for the renewal of an Antivirus subscription license and that they need to call the number listed to cancel it.
The victim calls the phone number mentioned in the email and from there, the scammers instruct them to carry out various actions, such as installing remote access software on their computers, installing Infection by malware and entering their credentials on a fake page.
This form of fraud has been going on for many years, but Jollif said that activity has recently increased greatly.
One of the incidents reported in the court document concerns a victim who received a phishing email on November 28, 2023, informing him that he would be charged $349.95 for a Norton antivirus subscription unless he cancels the charge.
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After contacting the scammers, the victim would get carried away and give them a remote Accessed at on his laptop, supposedly to ensure the $349.95 was returned to his account.
At that point, the scammer claimed that $34,000 was accidentally returned and the victim was asked to return the amount to avoid legal problems.
The victim complied with the instruction, seeing that his bank account now had a new $34,000 deposit that he assumed came from Norton.
In fact, the scammer placed a blue screen on top of the regular screen so the victim could not see his actions and transferred $34,000 from his own Mutual Fund (savings) account to the scammer's account.
After the fraud was identified, on 7 December, the JP Morgan Chase restricted Zhou's access to his account funds and those funds were transferred to a holding account controlled by bank.
Jollif's motion seeks the forfeiture of $34,000 derived from Zhou's activities, deeming it potential misappropriated income.
Zhou now faces charges of fraud through misuse and participation in mail fraud, and may also face charges of possible money laundering, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
See also: 20% of malware attacks bypass antivirus protection
An antivirus program can improve the security of our digital world by actively protecting against viruses and other harmful software. This is done by detecting, identifying and removing threats before they cause damage to system. In addition, antivirus programs offer protection against malicious software, which can steal personal information or cause other forms of damage. This is achieved through constant monitoring and analysis of the behavior of applications and files on the computer.
The antivirus programs also offer protection from phishing attacks, which are designed to steal your credentials through fraud. This is done by identifying and blocking dangerous websites and emails.
Finally, antivirus programs can improve the security of our digital world by offering protection firewall. This means they can prevent unwanted connections to the network, providing an extra layer of security.
Source: bleepingcomputer
