Security News > 2021 > December > When Scammers Get Scammed, They Take It to Cybercrime Court
Blocked from legitimate courts, cybercriminals have set up their own system for settling disputes, handing over ultimate decision-making to senior underground forum administrators who have awarded claims totaling as much as $20 million.
A new report from Analyst1 details activities inside these underground systems and found more than 600 requests for mediation on just one Russian-language forum alone, tackling disputes ranging from missing affiliate payments to contract violations.
Failure to comply with the verdict will lead to the cybercriminal getting banned from the forum, the researchers said.
"For the transparency of the process, every forum member has a right to comment and participate in the virtual hearing process," the report explained.
Last May, Huntress noticed that DarkSide ransomware group affiliates were filing claims in these cybercrime forum courts for not getting paid for their work after their operations were disrupted in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline breach.
The report said the claim was ultimately rejected by the assigned forum arbitrator.