Threat Actors Adapt to the Pandemic by Unleashing New Phishing Trends

New worrisome trends

• In the past two months, Bitdefender’s telemetry has flagged 42.9% of coronavirus-related emails as suspicious or malicious. 
• Earlier, these emails either included malicious links or attachments and impersonated well-known agencies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), to steal personal and financial data from online users.
• However, some of the latest trends include fake updates on the evolution of the virus and malicious attachments that can infect recipients’ devices when accessed. 
• In addition to disguising as government agencies, scammers are now leveraging the temporary ban on importing or exporting goods and financial institutions offering COVID-19 relief funds to target users.
• Fraudsters are also attempting to phish users in the name of fake drugs that can cure the disease within five days.
• Other phishing campaigns that have erupted during the course of this pandemic are related to bonus reports, pandemic food distribution, office shutdowns, FedEx packages, quarantine protocols.  

Financial institutions become an active target

• In order to fuel their malicious operations, scammers have begun targeting financial institutions on a frequent basis. 
• Some of the banks targeted in the last two months include Standard Chartered, HSBC, World Bank, and Moneygram. 

How much is the loss? 

• According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were as many as 22,000 consumer complaints about COVID-19-related frauds, translating into a total loss of over $22 million.
• About £2 million (~$2.5 million) has been lost to coronavirus-related fraud in the U.K. as criminals look to cash in on the crisis. 
• Apart from this, nearly £17 million (~$21.3 million) has been lost to online shopping frauds in the U.K. during the COVID-19 lockdown period.

Final words