Security News > 2021 > January > Telegram Bots at Heart of Classiscam Scam-as-a-Service

A new automated scam-as-a-service has been unearthed, which leverages Telegram bots in order to steal money and payment data from European victims.

These groups have bought into full-fledged scam kits, equipping them with Telegram chatbots for automated communication with victims, as well as customized webpages that lead victims to phishing landing pages.

If these communications occur via Telegram, the ploy uses Telegram chat bots.

According to Telegram, bots are Telegram accounts operated by software - not people - that will often have artificial-intelligence features.

Digging deeper, the phishing kit includes a link to either a fake popular courier service website, or a scam website that mimics a classified or a marketplace with a payment form, which is actually a scam page.

Researchers said "The scheme is simple and straightforward, which makes it all the more popular." The use of Telegram bots plays into its growing popularity, they said.

News URL

https://threatpost.com/telegram-bots-classiscam-scam/163061/