In the first half of this year, online marketplace Ozon and cybersecurity company FACT (formerly Group-IB) successfully blocked around 11,500 phishing websites trying to use the Ozone brand for fraudulent purposes. According to sources, this figure is 100 times higher than the same period last year.
According to FACT data, a third of these blocked sites (about 3,500) were involved in fraudulent activities, in which they defrauded people by offering products and then stealing their money and personal information. In addition, sites that promise discounts on all Ozon products by communicating via messenger, and sites that offer gifts but require commission payments were also identified.
Overall, FACT reported a decrease in fraudulent activity since the beginning of this year. The company increased the number of scam sites from 16,967 in the same period last year to 498 in six months. In addition, 161 messages and scam groups on social networks and instant messengers were deleted, compared to 611 messages last year. Kirill Myakishev, Ozon’s director of information security, emphasized that this is mainly due to the faster blocking of such sources.
It is also worth noting that the Ministry of Interior is considering a proposal to impose criminal sanctions on those who help scammers withdraw money from banks. This includes so-called “droppers” who give their bank information to attackers in exchange for rewards and then use that information to move the crooks’ stolen funds through a chain of others.
Source: Ferra
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
