Collaborate Disseminate
Researchers at Cofense say the operators behind the Emotet botnet “have upped their game” for 2022’s tax season.
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Identity verification company ID.me uses a type of powerful facial recognition that searches for individuals out of mass databases of photos, CEO Blake Hall explained in a LinkedIn post on Wednesday. The post follows a news release from the company last week stating directly that: “Our 1:1 face match is comparable to taking a selfie to unlock a smartphone. ID.me does not use 1:many facial recognition, which is more complex and problematic.” Privacy advocates say that both versions of facial recognition pose a threat to consumers. In addition to numerous studies demonstrating the technology is less effective on non-White skin tones, amassing biometric data can prove a huge security risk. “Governments and companies are amassing these databases of your personal biometric information, which unlike databases, of credit cards, cannot be replaced,” explained Caitlin Seeley-George, campaign director at nonprofit Fight for the Future. “And these are databases that are highly targeted […]
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U.S. law enforcement officials gathered details about a suspected cybercriminal by collecting intelligence from his apparent messages to vape shops in Ukraine. The accused scammer, Glib Oleksandr Ivanov-Tolpintsev, was arraigned Tuesday during an 11-minute hearing in which he appeared virtually from the Pinellas County Jail near Tampa, Fla. Ivanov-Tolpintsev is accused of accessing victims’ username and password credentials between 2016 and 2020, then acting as a seller on a cybercriminal forum where he sold the sensitive data and leased access to a botnet, an army of hacked computers capable of sending spam or infecting more computers. Using the aliases “sergios” and “mars,” Ivanov-Tolpintsev allegedly claimed that his botnet was capable of accessing 2,000 usernames and passwords a day, enabling other perpetrators to carry out identity theft or other kinds of fraud. U.S. officials accused the defendant of earning more than $80,000 as part of the scheme over four years. The […]
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A federal judge sentenced two men to prison for a coordinated scheme to hack into tax preparation firms, steal personal information, file fraudulent unemployment claims and income tax returns and then launder the money. The fraudulent unemployment claims aimed to exploit a COVID-19 relief program that netted $280,000 in improper benefits from the state of Washington, the Justice Department announced Thursday. They also included attempts to seek $2.6 million in tax refunds. Bamidele Muraina, a Nigerian national whom DOJ said led the effort to steal identities, received five years and 10 months in prison, as well as three years of supervised release and an order to pay more than $500,000 in restitution. For leading the money laundering leg of the operation, Gabriel Kalembo received four years and two months in prison, along with two years of supervised release and an order to pay nearly $300,000. Starting at least in January […]
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A federal judge sentenced two men to prison for a coordinated scheme to hack into tax preparation firms, steal personal information, file fraudulent unemployment claims and income tax returns and then launder the money. The fraudulent unemployment claims aimed to exploit a COVID-19 relief program that netted $280,000 in improper benefits from the state of Washington, the Justice Department announced Thursday. They also included attempts to seek $2.6 million in tax refunds. Bamidele Muraina, a Nigerian national whom DOJ said led the effort to steal identities, received five years and 10 months in prison, as well as three years of supervised release and an order to pay more than $500,000 in restitution. For leading the money laundering leg of the operation, Gabriel Kalembo received four years and two months in prison, along with two years of supervised release and an order to pay nearly $300,000. Starting at least in January […]
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A U.S. federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a Russian man to five years in prison for his role in a scheme to use malicious software to steal the equivalent of $1.5 million in tax returns meant for American taxpayers. Anton Bogdanov, 35, worked as part of a small crew that used vulnerabilities in accounting software to redirect tax refunds into their own accounts. By logging into the software, Bogdanov and his associates would access customer information and change the recipient information, directing money from the Internal Revenue Service to debit cards under their control, according to an indictment. Bogdanov, who was better known by the alias “Kusok,” lived in Russia during the crime spree, and would take a cut of the stolen money. He was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand in November 2018 while waiting to board a flight to Russia, becoming one of a number of accused cybercriminals whom U.S. […]
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Since March 11, IBM X-Force has observed a more than 6,000 percent increase in COVID-19 spam, with lures ranging the full gamut of challenges and concerns facing individuals.
The post New Study Shows Consumers Could Be Vulnerable to COVID-19 Spam appeared first on Security Intelligence.
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Scammers view tax season as a prime recruiting season for victims. Here are the most prominent tax fraud trends in 2020 and how to protect your identity and business from risks.
The post 2020 Tax Fraud Trends: How to Protect Yourself at Home and Work appeared first on Security Intelligence.
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The IRS recently released security tips that individuals and businesses should consider when filing important tax information online.
The post Security Tips for Tax Season — and Beyond appeared first on Security Intelligence.