More details have emerged about Telekopye, a malicious Telegram bot used by threat actors to carry out extensive phishing attacks. “Telekopye is capable of creating phishing websites, emails, SMS messages, and more,” claims security researcher Radek Jizba of ESET in a new analysis.
The Neanderthals, who are the masterminds behind this operation, run the illegal business pretending to be a respectable corporation. There is a hierarchy in this organization, and different people play different roles.
Potential Ads on underground forums are used to recruit Neanderthals. They are invited to join particular Telegram channels created for tracking transaction records and Neanderthal-to-Neanderthal conversations after they are recruited. Executing one of the three scam types—seller, buyer, or refund—is the operation’s main goal.
Under the disguise of vendors, Neanderthals connive to trick gullible Mammoths into paying for an imaginary good. Neanderthals impersonating buyers con Mammoths (merchants) into divulging their financial information and forfeiting their money. This is known as buyer scams.
Refund scams are another type in which Neanderthals trick Mammoths by posing as providers of refunds and then taking the same amount of money out of their accounts a second time.
The behavior linked to Telekopye is consistent with Classiscam, a scam-as-a-service program that has brought in $64.5 million in illegal earnings since it began in 2019. As Jizba pointed out, Neanderthals are advised to keep supplementary pictures of the item on hand in case Mammoths ask for more information in the case of Seller fraud. He went on to say that Neanderthals were told to alter any images they chose to use from the internet in order to make image searches more intricate.
A thorough procedure is involved in choosing a Mammoth for a buyer scam, taking into account variables including the victim’s age, gender, and expertise with online marketplaces, as well as ratings, reviews, the quantity of trades they have successfully done, and the kind of goods they sell. This suggests a phase of preparation marked by a great deal of market research.
Neanderthals trick Mammoths by pretending to be too far away or to be on a business trip for a few days, which is how they deal with Mammoths who want payment and delivery in person. In order to increase the possibility that the scam will be carried out successfully, they simultaneously exhibit increased interest in the object.
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Abdul Wahab
Abdul Wahab is a Software Engineer by profession and a Tech geek by nature. Having been associated with the tech industry for the last five years, he has covered a wide range of Tech topics and produced well-researched and engaging content. You will mostly find him reviewing tech products and writing blog posts. Binge-watching tech reviews and endlessly reading tech blogs are his favorite hobbies.