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Cable hackers continue to release illegal content after the arrests, says Commissioner Vladimir Dimitrov, head of CDCOC’s CyberCrime Department and national cybersecurity coordinator.
– Commissioner Dimitrov, due to the pandemic, most companies have sent their employees to work from home. There, computers are more vulnerable. Are there major attacks on companies, money theft?
– At the beginning of the pandemic, hundreds of Bulgarian companies had to quickly give their employees remote access to the corporate network. Home computers, which are often used by multiple people, are still used to work from home.
Some of these devices are compromised and provide an excellent opportunity for hackers to access the corporate network through the infected home computer. Then cybercriminals change the bank account in the official database, to which the company has to send money, and several hundred thousand levs disappear in the accounts of financial mules abroad. The personal computers of infected employees often access the company network, encrypt company databases or other important business information, and hackers demand a ransom in bitcoins.
Substitution of a bank account for payment in email correspondence between two companies, unfortunately, remains the most common fraud and causes the most financial damage to Bulgarian companies. Similar crimes are committed by organized crime groups in North Africa, and other groups of financial mules are used to launder money.
Almost every week at the CDCOC Cybercrime Department we receive signals from Bulgarian companies affected by the IBAN change. Damages range from 20-50,000 to 100,000 lev, but we have also encountered cases of several million levs that disappeared at the hands of international cybercriminals.
– Last year there was a formjacking attack: you buy something online, you pass the payment, but the bandits get my data. Is it just her or are there already others?
– These types of hacker attacks are rare, but unfortunately in them hackers illegally acquire data on hundreds and often thousands of bank cards, names and passwords. The collected data is then sold in closed hacker forums and unsuspecting victims are forgiven with all their savings within a few weeks.
In recent months, cases of data theft through mirror pages or cryptocurrency fraud have become more frequent. Hackers steal private keys, usernames, and passwords for online wallets from infected computers, and anonymity in the crypto trade brings them a quick and safe profit.
– Christmas is coming and a scammer’s paradise is coming, especially with the lock, when we all shop online. What are the latest trends in internet fraud?
– Hundreds of Bulgarian Internet users are victims of fraudulent trading sites, prize giveaways or their credit card runs out after a phishing attack. Due to their naivety and ignorance, many people succumb to the supposedly low prices, fast delivery times, and seemingly excellent product quality. For online purchases you need to use proven and trusted merchants who have demonstrated their loyalty and professionalism.
Before ordering a product or service online, take a few minutes to search the internet for opinions or recommendations. Use the cash on delivery and merchandise inspection options.
If you are buying from a new platform or merchant, stop any payment or order immediately if you suspect anything. Do not provide your personal information or credit cards on questionable sites or in chat. Beware of fakes, we catch a lot.
There is also fraud in purchases. Every month we have cases of people who supposedly buy cars, but it turns out that they give thousands of levies and receive absolutely nothing. These scams are on legitimate sites and are just some of the advertisements.
– A man using the names of the murdered banker Emil Kyulev claims that he sells hacked databases, including to the Interior Ministry. He is lying?
– Emil Kyulev lies that he hacked the Interior Ministry and other databases. You supposedly advertise that you are selling something of value, but in reality a person receives a public resource, for example. The only real things it announced were hacked by other people.
For example, one is Instakilla, who we captured in August and has even been convicted. He hacked into databases, such as freight forwarders and financial institutions, and then demanded ransoms in bitcoins from them. His wallet contained around 100,000 BGN in cryptocurrencies.
“Men send nude photos of beautiful girls and then blackmail them, and women send money to American admirals.” Are these schemes still or have new ones appeared?
– Romantic fraud continues to be a technique commonly used by organized crime groups in North Africa. The lack of social contacts makes many Bulgarians look for friendships and caresses in the digital space. Scammers often spend weeks getting close to their future victim. Through psychological techniques she is manipulated, promises expensive things and eternal love. In accidental or unforced circumstances, the victim is initially asked to send small amounts through international express payment systems or a bank account.
In a similar case in recent months, a young woman from Sofia has been tricked into sending more than € 220,000 to her alleged friend, apparently on an international military mission. They were written for almost a year. He first lied to her saying that his daughter had crashed and needed money for surgery. The woman herself offered to lend him the amount. A few days later he ordered a car, but the truck crashed. And so on for months.
Men are blackmailed after erotic video chat into sending small sums via quick transfers, most often to African countries.
However, cases of theft of Facebook profiles are becoming more frequent. One of the Bulgarian post offices deleted the emails after 180 days. The bandit re-registered it and then logged into Facebook and took advantage of the forgotten password option. He receives a letter in the new mail, changes it, and starts looking for nude photos to blackmail the account holder. It also checks if a bank card has been added to the account to drain it.
Even when people write to him, he replies to them in Bulgarian and can have a conversation with them. We have suspicions, but we think there are foreigners in the group.
– Children are now online even for their lessons. Did pedophiles integrate training in their attempts to attract them?
– The distribution of materials with child sexual exploitation is an extremely serious problem, which the CDCOC Cybercrime Department treats with extreme caution.
As you read these lines, hundreds of Bulgarian citizens download and share similar materials over the Internet. Just a few days ago, we arrested another pedophile who was saving thousands of photos and videos with similar content to an external hard drive. He has worked for a well-known IT company for years and skillfully covered their tracks.
CDCOC’s specialized team to counter these crimes, under the supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor and in close collaboration with our international partners, establishes and plans daily pedophile detention operations. Social media, computer game sites, and chat are still the main field of their hunt. There, pedophiles cleverly approach children and blackmail them into sending nude photos of themselves or bringing in other children that pedophiles can virtually fornicate with.
– You recently worked in a group that distributed illegal television content to Italy and Europe. What exactly was done in Bulgaria?
– The organized criminal group had rented a room in Yambol, where television channels were distributed to end customers throughout Europe through satellite dishes and decoders. They used a rented Internet connection channel to transmit the signal. The initial delivery and installation of the decoding equipment was carried out by several foreigners in the gang, and the day-to-day care of the site was the work of a Bulgarian who pays the rent, Internet connection and generally oversees the “business.”
In Bulgaria, the group also used servers rented from hosting companies to distribute pirated TV channels. As a result of our excellent cooperation with Guardia Di Finanza’s Italian colleagues and under the supervision of the prosecution, the activity of this group was stopped, key members were arrested and millions of euros, expensive cars and property were seized or seized.
– We had several actions of this type. One of the groups had even used special equipment with invoices from other companies to cover its tracks. Did you catch them trying to post illegal content again?
– Most of the groups neutralized by us resume their activities a few months after our operations. The benefits of pirated distribution of copyrighted products are big, fast, and “sweet.” Criminals post bail and create new groups overall and continue to infringe on intellectual property rights with renewed vigor. In this way, enormous economic damage is inflicted on the rights holders.
Authors spend hundreds of hours working to make a movie, record music, or play a computer program. Through modern means of communication and high-speed Internet connectivity, pirates of movies, music, software and television channels are grossly and blatantly disregarding the law.
Despite the fictitious companies, false invoices and financial mules used to cover their tracks, we will intensify our engagement with foreign partners, and police operations to stop and prosecute pirates will become more and more frequent.
– You are the national cybersecurity coordinator. Do you think it can be achieved without cybersecurity classes?
– Achieving high levels of cybersecurity of computer systems and networks in Bulgaria is especially important for the proper functioning of society, respect for basic civil rights and business development. Citizen awareness of how to protect themselves digitally, virtual money, and business must certainly start at school at an early age. All of our physical lives, entertainment, and businesses are increasingly moving into cyberspace, and if we are not prepared for this collision, we will suffer severe losses or delays. As part of the united European family, our society faces a number of digital challenges and a commitment to an innovative, green, connected and fair Bulgaria.
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