Security News > 2023 > March > Cybercriminals exploit SVB collapse to steal money and data
The collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank on March 10, 2023, has sent ripples of turbulence throughout the global financial system, but for hackers, scammers, and phishing campaigns, it's becoming an excellent opportunity.
An attack already seen in the wild is from BEC threat actors who are impersonating SVB customers and telling customers that they need payments sent to a new bank account after the bank's collapse.
These scam pages tell SVB customers that the bank is distributing USDC as part of a "Payback" program.
"March 13 2023 - Silicon Valley Bank is actively distributing USDC as part of the SVB USDC payback program to eligible USDC holders. USDC payouts can only be claimed once per wallet," claims the cryptocurrency scam.
Peer-to-peer payments firm Circle, which manages the popular stablecoin USDC had a cash reserve of $3.3 billion in the SVB bank.
If you are a former SVB customer, the best thing you can do is to stay calm and follow the official communication channels of the U.S. government and the FDIC. Ignore any emails from unusual domains, and triple-check any requests from alleged SVB banking customers who request that you change bank account details for payments.