Microsoft and Japan took down a cybercrime network behind over a billion scam messages
We've all gotten a scam text about a nonexistent parking ticket or a fake package delivery, but hopefully you'll start seeing fewer of them. Microsoft says it helped dismantle a marketplace for scammers sending phishing messages like those around the world. Through an investigation with Japan's National Police Agency, it tracked scam activity back to […]
Microsoft and Japan's National Police Agency have dismantled a cybercrime network responsible for sending over a billion scam messages worldwide, according to Microsoft. The joint effort resulted in the disabling of more than 20,000 accounts linked to the YAM Store marketplace, along with the blocking of over 100,000 fraudulent websites.
Through their investigation, Microsoft and the National Police Agency discovered that the YAM Store, CoGUI, and Iron Man platforms had enabled more than one billion malicious messages, primarily targeting Microsoft customers and various sectors such as healthcare, financial institutions, and businesses in over 150 countries. Scammers utilized stolen or counterfeit Microsoft and Google accounts, available on YAM Store, and employed phishing kits to distribute their fraudulent messages.
Additionally, the YAM Store hijacked expired web domains and established websites for non-existent organizations to deceive potential victims. To counteract these threats, Microsoft collaborated with the Health-ISAC to seize and redirect the domains powering these platforms.
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