Hackers are betting on a new scam on cell phones. Find out what it is and learn how to protect yourself!
Cell phones have been our right-hand man in many activities. However, as much as they help, they can also be a villain, since many criminals take advantage of certain loopholes to commit crimes and carry out scams. In a new scam, scammers have been using accessibility features designed for people with disabilities (PwD) on cell phones to access victims' bank accounts and transfer money.
Cybersecurity company Kaspersky has identified more than 6,000 attacks of this type in the country since January of this year, and warns that there is a growing trend in this type of cybercrime. The scam is carried out by installing a Trojan, a type of virus, on the user's cell phone. Once the malicious software is installed, the user will be prompted to activate accessibility features, and through them, criminals can access all apps on the cell phone, including banking apps.
Learn more about this new scam and learn how to protect yourself!
New scam
According to Fabio Assolini, senior analyst at Kaspersky in Brazil, these Trojans are disguised as decoy applications, such as games, sweepstakes apps, expansions for WhatsApp and others. According to him, this fake app will ask for access to accessibility features and, since people don't read the terms of use, they just accept it. With accessibility, the app gains powers so that it can interact with other apps, such as reading screen content.
Once the accessibility feature is enabled, the malware waits until the user opens the banking app to perform a transfer via Pix. When this happens, the malicious software reads the account balance information and, when the victim makes the transfer, the screen freezes, before the payment is confirmed.
At this point, the virus changes the Pix information, replacing the recipient's bank account with the scammers' bank details. In addition, the Pix amount also changes. Typically, according to the expert, the virus transfers 95% from the victim's checking account balance. Therefore, if the victim has R$ 10 thousand in their account, the virus transfers R$ 9,500 to the criminals' account.
According to him, two factors can contribute to this type of scam. The first is the instantaneous nature of Pix, which allows them to send money to 50 different accounts in 10 minutes. The second factor is the ease with which fintechs open accounts, which means that criminals use the data of fronts, such as dead people and innocent people who have had their data stolen.
According to Chris Roeckl, product director at digital security company Appdome, hackers are investing in this alternative because it is impossible to undo a transfer via Pix and because it takes a while for the victim to realize that they have been scammed. According to him, during this time, the transferred amount has already been withdrawn from the account and sent to third-party accounts, making it harder to track.
How to protect yourself
According to the Appdome expert, the best way to protect yourself is to adopt preventive measures, since these software programs use social engineering to deceive users. It is ideal that the user never downloads suspicious applications or clicks on suspicious links or messages, even if they were sent by someone they trust or by a supposedly trustworthy organization.
You should also be aware of permission requests for accessibility features. If an app asks for this permission, it may be a blow. It is recommended that users install an antivirus on their cell phone, which will block the download of suspicious applications.
