US Secret Service court documents reveal new tactics in antivirus renewal phishing scam

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Court document shows phishing tactics are only getting more complex

A bank card skewered on the end of a fishhook in front of a white computer keyboard.
(Image credit: Getty Images / Peter Dazeley)

New documents submitted by the US Secret Service as part of a recent seizure warrant have revealed an all-new form of phishing scam techniques centered around antivirus renewal.

In this instance, a scammer stole $34,000 after emailing the victim stating that there was an auto-renewal of $349.95 on their account that would be charged unless cancelled.

The victim then called the scammers to do so, and was told to provide remote access to their laptop in order to ensure the refund went through.

 Executed Warrant 

The warrant, submitted by Special Agent Jollif of the United States Secret Service, hopes to return the $34,000 to the victim as the funds are currently suspended in a JP Morgan Chase suspense account due to the detection of a potentially fraudulent transaction.

The scammer, identified as “Bingsong Zhou” in the warrant application, tricked their victim into installing remote access software which Zhou then used to transfer the funds from the victims savings account into their own while disguising their actions under an overlaid bluescreen.

Jollif stated in the document that while tactics like this have existed for several years, they are seeing increasing use. In the document, Jollif states, “Criminals are posing as legitimate representatives of real companies and, through a series of impersonations, are negotiating the transfer of funds via wire transfers from a victim bank account to an account controlled by the criminal.

“Once the criminal receives the fraudulently obtained funds, it is common practice to move the funds rapidly between accounts to prevent law enforcement detection.”

Via BleepingComputer

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Benedict Collins
Benedict Collins
Staff Writer (Security)

Benedict has been writing about security issues for over 7 years, first focusing on geopolitics and international relations while at the University of Buckingham. During this time he studied BA Politics with Journalism, for which he received a second-class honours (upper division),  then continuing his studies at a postgraduate level, achieving a distinction in MA Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy. Upon joining TechRadar Pro as a Staff Writer, Benedict transitioned his focus towards cybersecurity, exploring state-sponsored threat actors, malware, social engineering, and national security. Benedict is also an expert on B2B security products, including firewalls, antivirus, endpoint security, and password management.