The Anti-virus Times

Monday, October 9, 2017

We often write about crimes involving malware being used to steal money from users who bank online. A Trojan can transfer money from your account to someone else’s in just a couple of minutes.

Then the fraudsters divide the amount into smaller sums and distribute them among various accounts belonging to organisations and individuals known as “droppers” in criminal lingo.

That's how it works in theory. In reality, attackers can employ other fraudulent schemes.

For example, scammers find a willing participant who lets them deposit money in their account and keep 40%-50% of it as a commission. Once transferred, the money’s supposed owner appears out of nowhere and demands that the money be returned to them or else they will contact the police. And thus instead of making money, the dropper is left with nothing.

Or the dropper is required to have an account that already contains some money (as a rule, 20%-40% of the amount they are about to receive)—this is supposedly necessary to make the transactions appear legitimate, but to transfer the money the attackers require the CVV code. Once they learn the code, the scammers deplete the account and disappear for good. In situations like this, a would-be dropper is unlikely to call the police.

Another way to take advantage of a would-be dropper is to request an advance payment, ostensibly to cover security risks. Once the security deposit is received, naturally the scammers disappear.

By becoming a dropper, one essentially becomes an accomplice to money laundering. Bank security services and law enforcement agencies can easily determine the initial recipient of stolen money. And if they prove the money was used to purchase weapons or drugs, a person who was only trying to make some easy money can face a long jail term.