Security News > 2020 > November > Major BEC Phishing Ring Cracked Open with 3 Arrests
A joint INTERPOL, Group-IB and Nigeria Police Force cybercrime investigation resulted in the arrest of the Nigerian nationals, believed to be responsible for distributing malware, carrying out phishing campaigns and extensive scams worldwide.
In a BEC attack, a scammer impersonates a company executive or other trusted party, and tries to trick an employee responsible for payments or other financial transactions into wiring money to a bogus account.
The news comes as the average wire-transfer loss from BEC attacks is significantly on the rise: In the second quarter of 2020 the average was $80,183, up from $54,000 in the first quarter, according to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
While Nigeria and West Africa are still top hotspots for BEC gangs, the APWG report found that the rise in dollar amounts could be driven largely by one Russian BEC operation, which has been targeting companies for an average of $1.27 million per effort.
The Russian BEC group, Cosmic Lynx, was spotted prowling around earlier this summer by researchers at Agari.