News
Proofpoint: US Banking Collapse, Cybercriminals Capitalise on Fear with Crypto Phishing Scams
March 2023 by Proofpoint
Cybersecurity researchers at Proofpoint have identified cybercriminals attempting to capitalise on the current US banking crisis, with phishing attacks related to USD Coin (USDC), a digital stablecoin cryptocurrency tied to USD.
Aiming to prey on human emotion and fear, the scammers created messages impersonating several cryptocurrency brands, prompting the victim to claim their crypto or redeem to USD. The victim would then be lured to install a Smart Contract that would transfer the contents of the victim’s wallet to the attacker. Once Circle announced they had cash reserves in Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the threat actor started spoofing the fintech company, using a lure that promised the victim could redeem USDC to USD at 1:1 rate. A screenshot of this message is included below.
