"Giant Investment Scam Network Targets Victims with Phone Calls"

Security researchers at Group-IB have uncovered a massive investment fraud campaign targeting European victims via online and phone channels.  The researchers stated that the "gigantic network infrastructure" covers over 10,000 rogue websites localized for users in the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands.  The researchers noted that victims are first lured by posts about fake investment schemes on compromised social media accounts like Facebook and YouTube.  Often images of local or global celebrities are used to make the scam seem more legitimate.  Clicking on the post will take the victim to a fake broker site with a high-quality design.  The researchers stated that once the victim lands on the fake broker site, they will see various fake messages of people that have had 'successful' trades and are in the process of cashing out.  The victim will then be required to fill out a contact form.  Once they do, they will receive a call from a scammer masquerading as a broker.  While on the phone, the scammers provide the victims with a link to the final fraudulent investment project with a personal account.  To start trading, the victim needs to replenish the balance.  The researchers stated that once they make the card payment, they'll get a login to a fake investment dashboard.  In the fake dashboard, profit will be shown, while there is no profit as all is fake.  The researchers noted that the scammers do this to be able to ask the victim for more money, as the victim believes good profits are being made.  No actual trading is taking place on the platform.  The researchers stated that if the victim decides not to deposit any more money and wants to cash out, they will be required to put more money in to meet a "payout threshold." The researchers noted that of the 11,197 domains involved in the campaign, over 5000 remain active currently.  

Infosecurity reports: "Giant Investment Scam Network Targets Victims with Phone Calls"