back to article Weep for the cybercriminals who fell for online scams and lost $2.5m last year

Scammers have scammed their fellow cybercriminals out of more than $2.5 million on three dark web forums alone over the last 12 months, according to Sophos researchers. In a Black Hat Europe session, Sophos threat hunters detailed their investigation, which examined scams on two well-established Russian-language marketplaces, …

  1. Little Mouse

    "banned from the sites for being dishonest."

    I had to read that line a couple of times, and still can't stop smiling.

    1. jollyboyspecial

      Re: "banned from the sites for being dishonest."

      It actually caused the irony centres of my brain to shut down completely

      1. veti Silver badge

        Re: "banned from the sites for being dishonest."

        Every profession has its code. Lawyers do, bankers do, politicians do, even estate agents do. Even scammers draw the line at ransomware, you'll note.

        There is absolutely honour among thieves. It's just that... the things that are prohibited are generally not the same things that you might expect or hope to be prohibited.

    2. Dabooka

      Re: "banned from the sites for being dishonest."

      Just logged in to say the same thing!

  2. Eclectic Man Silver badge
    Unhappy

    My heart does not bleed for them

    Twice in the last few weeks I have been contacted by a pension company checking with me that I had asked for a valuation. I have not. Both times it seems to have been the fraudster who stole from my accounts in February / March 2020. They are still stealing my post (I have a scan of a form, which was sent to my home address but never reached me, requesting the value of my pension taken all in cash in my name in October), calling my pension companies and trying to steal my pension.

    I reckon that the fraudsters know that registration with CIFAS* (which alerts financial institutions that you are the victim of fraud and warns them about setting up accounts with your name, address, etc.) only lasts 24 months, so they have another go a couple of years after their first attempts. Much like burglars would steal stuff, wait for the insurance company to pay up, replace the TV, Stereo etc. and then go back and steal it all over again.

    No honour amongst thieves.

    * https://www.cifas.org.uk "The UK's largest cross-sector fraud sharing organisation"

    1. cheb

      Re: My heart does not bleed for them

      https://www.cifas.org.uk "The UK's largest cross-sector fraud sharing organisation

      I read that and wondered who they are sharing the fraud with.

    2. Missing Semicolon Silver badge

      Re: My heart does not bleed for them

      How the heck does your post get stolen? If it's commonplace, then surely paper mail is dead for legal documents?

      1. F. Frederick Skitty Silver badge

        Re: My heart does not bleed for them

        Several ways. Setting up a mail redirection requires disturbingly little in the way of proof that you are the genuine recipient. Another way is if you know the accounts your victim holds (possibly from letters acquired from the mail redirection), then simply write to the companies requesting a change of address.

      2. Tom66

        Re: My heart does not bleed for them

        When I set up a mail redirection, Royal Mail didn't require much information from myself to redirect mail from Leeds to Cambridgeshire. There was only a very basic identity check. It seems plausible that if you have enough information about someone you could set this up without them ever knowing.

      3. Eclectic Man Silver badge

        Re: My heart does not bleed for them

        I do not know how my post got stolen, but I suspect that there are several ways, including a corrupt postman who steals from the mail round (which would explain why two issues of New Scientist also failed to arrive), possibly stealing for the mailbox (tricky, but probably possible after some practice).

        As far as legal documents go, in the UK, solicitors have their own legal mail service to avoid things getting lost in the post between them. I have alerted the Post Office to loss of mail, but they were not able to find anything wrong. Even some recorded delivery post is not tracked through the entire journey, just at the end on delivery. Tracked mail can also 'go astray', so if you really want to ensure that something gets there, use a courier*, or take it yourself.

        * The Joseph Gordon Levitz film 'Premium Rush' is fiction, but a good watch for some of the spectacular cycling stunts.

  3. CommonBloke
    Trollface

    Why don't they just go to the local authorities to complain?

    If they've been the victims of a scam, they should contact the police or something

    ---> see icon pic if the sarcasm's not obvious

  4. sreynolds

    There is no honor among theives....

    If you can't trust the IRS then who can you trust?

  5. Mike 137 Silver badge

    The way of the world

    Big fleas have little fleas

    Upon their backs to bite 'em

    And little fleas have smaller fleas

    And so ad infinitum

    Jonathan Swift 1733

    1. Arthur the cat Silver badge

      Re: The way of the world

      The biologists didn't invent the term hyperparasite for nothing.

  6. Michael Strorm Silver badge

    "Yo dawg"

    [ Fill in rest of joke here ]

    > We even found instances where threat actors got revenge by scamming the scammers who scammed them

    "Yo yo dawg dawg"? I dunno...

  7. The Oncoming Scorn Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    We buried an oil drum and hinged the lid. Then we wired coconut to the lid as bait,

    "And after a month, you've trapped all the rats. But what do you do then?

    Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it. And they begin to get hungry, and one by one... (smacks lips repeatedly) ...they start eating each other until there are only two left.

    Two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees. But now they don't eat coconut anymore. Now they only eat rat. You have changed their nature."

    Icon - Well 007 has a frequently used chopper.

  8. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

    Obligatory Discworld Quote

    There is a saying, “You can’t fool an honest man,” which is much quoted by people who make a profitable living by fooling honest men. Moist never tried it, knowingly anyway. If you did fool an honest man, he tended to complain to the local Watch, and these days they were harder to buy off. Fooling dishonest men was a lot safer and, somehow, more sporting. And, of course, there were so many more of them. You hardly had to aim.

  9. goldcd

    *whistles*

    The Farmer's in his Den

  10. BPontius

    They steal and con each other all the time. Have zero sympathy, concern or empathy for them, certainly NOT going to weep.

    Can't take it, don't dish it out!!

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like