Kaspersky Detects Over 1,500 Fraudulent Global Resources Targeting Potential Crypto Investors and Highlights the Threat of Malicious Crypto Miners in Africa

The most common schemes used by cybercriminals included:

Globally (https://bit.ly/2WKLcfW), cryptocurrency mining malware wreaked havoc in 2018, infecting more than five million people in the first three quarters of that year. And Kaspersky’s research shows that in some African countries, the threat of malicious crypto miners, remains prevalent. Currently in South Africa, the share of all users targeted by malicious crypto miners in H1 2021 was 0.60%. In Kenya, the share of all users targeted was 0.85% and in Nigeria, 0.71%.

“Although these percentages may be interpreted as low and may not seem significant to users, crypto-miner malware has been identified as one of the top 3 malware families rife in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria at present, which we believe emphasises that as cryptocurrency continues to gain momentum, more users will likely be targeted,” says Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa.

In certain African countries, the share of all users targeted by malicious crypto miners is much higher: Ethiopia shows a share of 3.68% and Rwanda a share of 3.22%.

When looking at the fraudulent global resources detected by Kaspersky, typically, cybercriminals locate sites in popular domain zones: .com, .net, .org, .info, as well as in zones where domain acquisition is cheap: .site, .xyz, .online, .top, .club, .live. A distinctive feature of phishing and other types of cryptocurrency fraud is the high level of detail on phishing websites. For example, on fake crypto exchanges, real data, such as bitcoin rates, is often loaded from existing exchanges. Attackers understand that people who are investing or are interested in this area are often more tech-savvy than the average user. Therefore, the cybercrooks make their techniques more complex in order to get data and money from these people.

“Lately, many have become interested in cryptocurrencies, and attackers would not pass up the opportunity to use this to their advantage. At the same time, both those who want to invest or mine cryptocurrency and simply the holders of such funds can find themselves on the fraudsters’ radar. For example, one of the schemes we recently discovered went as follows: users received a message about the sale of an exclusive Coronavirus vaccine earlier than official schedules and only for those who have Bitcoins. This type of fraud was especially prevalent when the vaccines just became available. The user went to the site where the contact indicated, to which it was necessary to write to pre-order the vaccine. The target then needed to make an advance payment in Bitcoins, with the money going to the cybercriminals' account and the person receiving nothing in return," said Alexey Marchenko, head of the Content Filtering Methods Development department at Kaspersky.

To avoid becoming a victim of cybercriminals and the threat of malicious crypto miners, Kaspersky recommends that users:

Visit Kaspersky Daily to learn more about recent crypto-related scams such as a fake ICO (https://bit.ly/3BzOKRf), new tricks scammers use to make users believe their offers are real (https://bit.ly/3Bpqjpi) or luring Discord users to a fake cryptocurrency exchange (https://bit.ly/3t3Wyr8).

Reference:

¹Data based on anonymised statistics of detections by Kaspersky solutions from January to July 2021

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Kaspersky.

For further information please contact: Nicole Allman | INK&Co. Cell: +27 83 251 2769 nicole@inkandco.co.za

About Kaspersky: Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 240,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at https://africa.kaspersky.com/.

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