Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS
    Trending
    • Nigeria to fortify digital future with inaugural National Cybersecurity Conference 2025
    • Understanding QNET’s direct-selling business model
    • Computer Village management to tackle fraud and substandard products with major security overhaul
    • Konga unleashes “Oversabi Deals” with 50% off at mid-year shopping festival
    • Kaspersky: AI curiosity among children more than doubled in 2025
    • Five ways to keep children safe online
    • NiRA elects new Executive Board of Directors to drive .ng domain growth
    • Sustainable energy crucial for Africa’s AI boom, says Alpha-Geek CEO
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn
    ITPulse.com.ngITPulse.com.ng
    • News
    • Interviews
    • Blogs
    • Analysis
    • Opinion
    • Videos
    • Press Releases
    • Pictures
    • Advertise
    ITPulse.com.ngITPulse.com.ng
    Home»News»Fraud: Sophos investigates fake gold trading marketplace and crypto-romance scam
    News 4 Mins Read

    Fraud: Sophos investigates fake gold trading marketplace and crypto-romance scam

    mmBy ITPulseFebruary 13, 2023139 Views
    Facebook Twitter WhatsApp Pinterest LinkedIn Reddit Tumblr Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Sophos has today revealed that scammers are using a fake gold trading marketplace in one operation and have already scammed $500,000 in cryptocurrency in another scammer are moving beyond dating apps and increasingly targeting global Twitter and text users.

    According to the global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, the two expansive, still operational, pig butchering or sha zhu pan rings (elaborate and lengthy financial fraud scams that can cost victims thousands of dollars) are operating from Asia.

    One of the rings, based in Hong Kong, involves a fake gold trading marketplace, while the other, based in Cambodia and with ties to Chinese organized crime, netted the scammers $500,000 in cryptocurrency in just one month.

    In both schemes, the scammers targeted Sophos’ principal threat researcher, Sean Gallagher, directly via Twitter and text message, respectively, rather than dating apps, the traditional method used to find and target victims. Part one of a two-part series, “Fool’s Gold: Dissecting a Fake Gold Market Pig Butchering Scam,” released today, focuses on the inner workings of the ring based out of Hong Kong, which demonstrates how these scammers are upping their technical sophistication to lure in and con targets.

    “For two years, we’ve been following and reporting on a subset of these pig butchering schemes called CryptoRom. This particular flavor of pig butchering relies on romance-based lures with scammers approaching potential victims on dating apps and then asking them to invest in fraudulent crypto trading apps. But CryptoRom is really just the tip of the iceberg. Since the pandemic’s start, this type of cyber fraud has massively expanded. These scammers are now targeting people on all major social media platforms or even direct messages, and they’re not limiting themselves to just exploiting crypto but also gold and other forms of currency or trading value. They’re quite literally going after the whole hog,” said Sean Gallagher, principal threat researcher, Sophos.

    In the first scam Gallagher investigated, he spent three months interacting with one of the scammers after they approached him directly on Twitter.

    The scammer posed as a 40-year-old woman from Hong Kong who quickly attempted to move the conversation to WhatsApp. From there, the scammer tried to convince Gallagher to invest in a fake gold trading marketplace, touting her connections with her “Uncle Martin”—supposedly a former Goldman Sachs analyst. She then directed him to a site that copied the branding of a legitimate Japanese banking company called Mebuki Financial, where the foreign exchange and commodity trading services were to be conducted.

    While the social engineering of this scam was less polished than other cases Sophos has investigated, it showed a marked increase in technical sophistication for these types of groups. The scammers used an elaborate combination of highly effective SEO, polished scam pages to “register” new clients on their fake Mebuki website, and a pirated version of a legitimate trading app (MetaTrader 4) with additional malicious code to steal money from their victims. They are also actively updating their operation’s scam infrastructure to avoid being shut down.

    “Both scam rings are still operational and will be difficult to shut down. While we marked the domains and IP addresses being used by the attackers in the Hong Kong ring as malicious, their scam operations have already shifted to new domains. They already have a new download infrastructure in place for their pirated version of the MetaTrader app, so, at this point, we’re essentially playing ‘whack-a-mole’.

    Unfortunately, that’s the reality as these operations become broader in scope, targeting more regions and across different platforms. The move from crypto to gold also shows how easily these groups can find a new niche to exploit. That means the best defense is public awareness of these types of scams. People should be wary of any SMS, dating app, or social media direct message from a stranger who strikes up a conversation and then suggests moving it to WhatsApp or Telegram—especially if they make claims about wealth obtained from crypto or other trading,” said Gallagher.

     

    crypto-romance scam Sophos
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Telegram Email
    mm
    ITPulse
    • Website
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn

    ITPulse is a wholly information technology communication (ICT) news website, with a special focus on the African continent. The website provides up-to-date biz-tech news, analysis and comprehensive and thorough insight into the continent's ICT terrain

    Related Posts

    Nigeria to fortify digital future with inaugural National Cybersecurity Conference 2025

    June 4, 2025

    Computer Village management to tackle fraud and substandard products with major security overhaul

    June 3, 2025

    Konga unleashes “Oversabi Deals” with 50% off at mid-year shopping festival

    June 3, 2025

    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Latest Posts

    Nigeria to fortify digital future with inaugural National Cybersecurity Conference 2025

    June 4, 2025

    Understanding QNET’s direct-selling business model

    June 4, 2025

    Computer Village management to tackle fraud and substandard products with major security overhaul

    June 3, 2025
    About
    About

    Itpulse.com.ng is a wholly information technology communication (ICT) news website, with special focus on the African continent. The website provides up-to-date biz-tech news, analysis and a comprehensive and thorough insight info the continent's ICT terrain.

    Contact us: editorial@itpulse.com.ng

    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn RSS
    Latest Posts

    Nigeria to fortify digital future with inaugural National Cybersecurity Conference 2025

    June 4, 2025

    Understanding QNET’s direct-selling business model

    June 4, 2025

    Computer Village management to tackle fraud and substandard products with major security overhaul

    June 3, 2025
    Popular Posts

    Five ways to keep children safe online

    June 3, 2025

    Sustainable energy crucial for Africa’s AI boom, says Alpha-Geek CEO

    June 2, 2025

    The psychology of design: Using cognitive principles to create intuitive user experiences, By Godwin Udu

    February 24, 2023
    © 2017 - 2025 Itpulse. Designed by Max Excellence.
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Advertise
    • Contact Us

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.