Security News > 2021 > January > Telegram-based phishing service Classiscam hits European marketplaces
Some of the brands abused through this scam are extremely popular in Europe and include LeBonCoin, Allegro, OLX, Sbazar, FAN Courier, Lalafo, Kufar and DHL. Scam expanding to Europe.
The scammers publish ads on popular marketplaces and classifieds claiming to offer various products at low prices.
"Evildoers ask victims to provide their contact information to allegedly arrange a delivery. The scammer then sends the buyer an URL to either a fake popular courier service website or a scam website mimicking a classified or a marketplace with a payment form, which turns out to be a scam page. As a result, the fraudster obtains payment data or withdraws money through a fake merchant website" - Group-IB. It's important to note that the scammers can pose as both sellers and buyers.
By observing the Telegram bots, the researchers were able to observe the details of the deals made by the scammers.
By the end of 2020, Classiscam engaged more than 5,000 scammers.
Group-IB tried to contact directly all of the brands abused by the Classiscam phishing operations but despite the size of the scam there was no reply, Dmitriy Tiunkin, Head of Group-IB Digital Risk Protection Department, Europe, told BleepingComputer.