Funny African Cartoon About Being Scammed

The Threatpost squad breaks downward the strangest security stories this week – from Drawing Network hacked to bear witness stripper videos, to a church building being scammed out of $i.75 million.

A slew of foreign security news stories made headlines this calendar week, from scams to hacks. The Threatpost team breaks down the top stories that made everyone scratch their heads, including:

–Cartoon Network streaming websites being hacked to play Brazilian stripper videos.

– A Catholic church in Brunswick, Ohio was scammed out of a whopping $1.75 1000000 as a result of a business organisation e-mail compromise (BEC) set on.

-A scammer pretending to be Jason Statham tricked a vulnerable and unsuspecting fan out of "a significant corporeality" of money.

Beneath is a lightly edited transcript of the podcast.

Lindsey O'Donnell: Welcome to the news wrap Threatpost podcast for the week ended May 3, you've got Lindsey O'Donnell here with the Threatpost squad, including Tom Spring and Tara Seals. Hello, anybody.

Tom Spring: Hello.

Lindsey: So it'southward been a pretty weird week news wise. I didn't recollect that we would see topics like Jason Statham or the Catholic church or certainly non Brazilian strippers.

Tara Seals: Right. Very strange news week on the Threatpost news site.

Tom: Yeah, information technology was definitely non your average news calendar week.

Lindsey: Tara, I think you had the weirdest story this week most the Cartoon Network being compromised to prove Brazilian strippers. Tin you tell us a piddling fleck more most what happened there?

Tara: Yeah, absolutely. Actually, it was a single Brazilian male person stripper. Only he'due south kind of an internet celebrity, I suppose, which I did non realize earlier researching the story, merely his proper name is Ricardo Milos. And he's actually well known for sort of getting out there, posting videos, gyrating, and his red bandana on his forehead and an American flag thong. So, you know, that's kind of crawly. The net loves this. And then they've sort of adopted him and fabricated him into the subject area of endless memes, which if you do a quick search, a lot of them volition come upward. Then these hackers that compromised the Cartoon Network sites, in various regions around the globe, and he was sort of their go-to guy for that.

Tom: And then just to be understand this, this was a hijacking of the bodily streams that were being pushed through Cartoon Network's websites, it had nothing to do with whatever of the live Television or whatever cable-television set-based video.

Tara: Correct. Yeah, this was their digital properties, in 16 different territories around the globe. And so apparently, a pair of hackers were able to compromise whatever Cartoon Network uses for their website management platform and it was kind of a one and done thing. And then they compromise that and then are able to roll out their ain video content streams, to the diverse portals around the world.

Tom: It'south just and then weird — I mean if you're a hacker, and y'all're able to proceeds that blazon of access to the Cartoon Network's back end — and this is your goal? I mean, y'all think almost all of the ransomware, DNS attacks, y'all remember most all the hateful and nasty things you could possibly practice. This definitely is sort of mean and nasty, just it has a very odd twist to it.

Lindsey: Yeah, were they only like trolling or was there any sort of idea of what the motivation was behind this?

Tara: I don't know — I picture a couple of teenagers somewhere saying 'this is going to be awesome guys, permit's do this,' type of thing. I mean, it definitely seems more than like a lark than whatever sort of political calendar, or somebody with a vendetta against Cartoon Network. And typically, when we see these website attacks, they do tend to fall into the hacktivist category. Simply, y'all know, there was nothing political here, in that location was nothing especially pointing towards any sort of motive whatsoever. And so it merely seems equally though information technology was merely more than of a nuisance, 'let'southward run across if nosotros tin practice this' kind of thing.

Lindsey: Yeah, well, I had never heard of Ricardo Milos until I watched the video that yous used as a demonstration in your article.

Tara: Your life is richer for it now.

Lindsey: Exactly. I was definitely getting vibes that were similar to, if you remember the article I wrote a while dorsum, about the hackers that were defacing the Wall Street Journal and hijacking printers and other vulnerable IoT devices and showing messages that told people to subscribe to PewDiePie. Then I feel like that is kind of a like incident.

Tara: Yes, that PewDiePie story that you did, yous know, plainly got a lot of attending. And information technology was a similar affair. It just kind of seemed to be sort of run of the manufactory, internet kids out there rallying around to a cause and taking downward major media sites.

Lindsey: And I mean, the other interesting thing virtually this particular incident is that, am I right in remembering that they didn't notice it until after a whole weekend?

Tara: Yes, information technology was a couple of days at least, which is just kind of incredible. I'm not really sure why they didn't pick up on it. I don't know. You lot know, patently asleep at the switch at that place on the weekends.

Tom: The timing is perfect to try to attempt to strike while nobody's at the wheel. Merely I wonder sometimes with these, you've got people who find these vulnerabilities, they study these vulnerabilities and they're so frustrated because nobody will listen to them well-nigh their vulnerability. I accept no inkling as to what was behind this or what motivated information technology but you know, I do speak with a lot of researchers, who never resort to this, by the style, but they submit bugs to these companies, and they're just ignored and ignored and ignored, and I wonder whether or not they were just similar, okay, y'all don't want to mind to me most the bug in your back-cease system… we'll only run some Brazilian stripper videos on your network and meet how you like it.

Tara: It's entirely possible Tom. That's a really good point. Peradventure they're just like 'oh really, well, y'all tin just see what we can practice then' kind of affair — just kind of disgruntled.

Lindsey: True. I mean, I estimate it could accept been worse.

Tara: Well what's interesting though is that yous know, Drawing Network actually did see some damage out of this. [The hackers] ran the stripper video but also, there were other types of content as well like Arabic memes and some other Brazilian ways, which is kind of interesting. Just the main thing is that when they were remediating this, when they were trying to make clean it all upwards, information technology actually knocked their digital video players offline for at least a solar day and a half. And, you know, when you're not getting those eyeballs, y'all're not getting the advertising acquirement. And I would imagine that would have a significant financial bear upon for Cartoon Network and Turner who owns them. So you lot know, it'southward not insignificant, we're kind of laughing about it, just you know, at that place was actual corporate impairment done here also.

Tom: Well, the reputational damage also, I mean, whatsoever parent that has kids that park them, you know, on an iPad with the Drawing Network running on their digital device, phone tablet, what have you. They're going to be horrified. You know? I mean, it'south not information technology's not likewise funny when you've got, a kid going 'mommy, daddy, what's this?'

Tara: Correct. Skilful point.

Lindsey: Yeah, speaking of big financial implications that result from cyberattacks, we had two strange scams that happened and that were in the news this week. One of them I wrote about, which was a church that got scammed out of ane point $one.75 1000000, and all because of a BEC assail. And and so the other one Tara wrote about, which was basically someone who is pretending to be Jason Statham tricking a fan to requite him or her a meaning amount of money.

Tara: Lindsey, the ane that you wrote well-nigh with the Cosmic church building, at to the lowest degree there wasn't rampant gullibility necessarily there – that seems like a pretty well crafted, well researched assail even though it's just so strange, 1 parish in Ohio forking over $ane.75 million. That just seems crazy, correct?

Lindsey: Yeah. I mean, that one was hard to write almost. I'm certain the other scam blazon of commodity was as well. But this church had forked out, information technology was basically working on a $4 million church renovation project. And what happened was that two electronic mail accounts of church employees were compromised, and the hackers who had compromised them then pretended to be those employees and convinced other church building employees over email to divert the payments that were related to this project to a fraudulent account that was owned by them – so yeah, exactly Tara, very well crafted, sophisticated. It's non like they were blatant nearly what they were doing, this was took a lot of social engineering and thought and planning. And the worst little detail about this story for me was that the priest said that the construction company called the church asking why they hadn't paid their monthly payment on the construction project for the by 2 months. And that was totaling, you lot know, the $i.75 one thousand thousand. So they basically were like, 'What are you talking virtually?' They were absolutely shocked and kind of caught off guard.

Tara: It'due south terrible. And it was for a renovation project. Is that right?

Lindsey: Yeah, so it was just for renovating the church. As I said, overall, it was $four million. So I judge the impairment could accept been much worse if they hadn't been notified about this, but still a pretty significant loss.

Tom: Well, those hackers are going to Hell.

Lindsey: Correct. I as well just feel like BEC scammers are getting trickier and trickier. Last week the FBI released their internet law-breaking written report for 2018. And there are some pretty crazy stories that they listed out as office of the written report for some of the scams that they had caught or been notified of. I know once, at that place was a BEC victim who received an email purporting to exist from their closing agent for a existent estate transaction. And that actually resulted in them initiating transfer of $50,000 to a fraudulent bank account. Then information technology but kind of goes to show, this can really happen to anyone.

Tara: And it seems every bit though in that location's a lot of recon that goes into this, correct, the Catholic church building example that y'all wrote most, somebody would have to know that this Vision 20/20 renovation project was going on. They would kind of have to take some sort of detail as to who the construction visitor was, who the bank was, to exist familiar with the inner workings of how that church operates. And then that kind of begs the question of, is this an inside scam kind of matter or simply somebody in the community who thinks, 'well, the Cosmic Church has a lot of money.' It simply it seems as though it takes a lot of savvy to put something like this together.

Lindsey: Yeah. I will say a lot of information is kind of online at this signal, also. So that really makes everyone'due south job easier. I know at RSA, there was this really interesting session on BEC scams and how they're really growing and getting more than catchy. And they demonstrated how you lot could find anything from email addresses to addresses to just an assortment of information that can exist used for social-engineering purposes, so it's just style as well piece of cake now at this indicate.

Tara: Yeah, absolutely.

Lindsey: Y'all know, when we're looking at the Jason Statham trick that Tara, you lot wrote almost, that was definitely a scam that was seemed to be a lot more targeted towards someone who could autumn for it a lot easier.

Jason Statham

Tara: Yeah, when I was writing this upwards, I cycled through a series of emotions. Considering at first I was thinking, 'Oh, god, that poor woman I feel so deplorable for her,' but then I'm also thinking, 'how could she non know this was a scam.' It'due south incredible the level of gullibility on the part of the victim here, which, you know, I don't want a victim shame, but it does seem a little bit crazy. What happened [started with] a fan page on Facebook, not the official Jason Statham fan page, but but a random fan page, that somebody had prepare. A adult female in Manchester, England, was a fan of him, she clicked the like, and she was perusing the page when she got a Facebook message, purporting to be from Jason Statham himself. And so this person lured her into believing that he was the real deal. They carry on this correspondence for months and months and months. And and so he says the film company's not paying him for his latest projection, and he's falling on hard times. And can she help him out? Which resulted in her wiring him tens of thousands of dollars.

Tom: Information technology's crazy. I don't know. I kind of want to know more than nigh this person who actually fell for the scam. I mean, I don't want to, like y'all said, arraign the victim here. But in this day and age to practise something like that, information technology but takes a particular type of person to be able to fall for a scam like that.

Tara: Well, and especially considering if you lot await at the exchanges. So, you know, the scammer really asked her to switch over to WhatsApp, and the police are actually in possession of whole reams and reams and reams of these WhatsApp conversations that they had. And at that place are grammatical mistakes, he does not sound like an educated person backside this, you know, and certainly doesn't seem glory-similar in whatever manner shape or form if you know what I hateful. So that'due south sort of an initial ruby-red flag, in addition to just sort of what are the chances that Jason Statham would single out, y'all know, a Manchester housewife to exist the love of his life. And and so, obviously at that place'southward a lot here that just, it's very confusing as to why she fell for it. However, in that location are some possible explanations – it did say in the commodity that she had recently lost her mother. And I guess her fiance likewise. So she was going through hard times emotionally, which plain will brand you lot more vulnerable and needy and maybe more open to things similar this because yous just you want to believe information technology's true.

Lindsey: Right? I feel like that emotional slice of information technology that, you know, this the scammer was able to tap into must take had some part to play in that too. And, you run across that beyond a agglomeration of different scams. I don't know if you guys have heard the scams where scammers will call grandparents and basically say, we've got your son here in United mexican states, we need y'all to wire-transfer us this amount of money.

Tara: Aye, information technology's really distressing. And I mean, the types of people that carry out this blazon of crime, it's just absolutely reprehensible. It makes me fear for humanity to exist honest.

Tom: They're kind of continued – the Catholic church [scam] and the celebrity imitation correspondence. It just comes upwardly, chalk information technology up to, what's the onetime expression? 'Y'all don't know who yous're talking to on the internet, it could be a dog or any,' I forget what it is, merely you actually don't – you take to exist really extremely careful. And I wonder whether or non there'south an older generation that just doesn't go that, y'all know?

Lindsey: Correct, exactly. Well, who knows what other crazy news we'll get side by side week. You lot know, this week kind of topped everything.

Tara: I like the wacky news week. Yous demand one of those every once in a while.

Lindsey: I agree. Well, Tom, Tara, mayhap we should wrap this upwardly. Thanks for coming on to talk about the biggest stories from the week.

Tom and Tara: Thank you Lindsey.

Lindsey: Great and catch united states of america next week on the Threatpost news wrap.

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Source: https://threatpost.com/cartoon-network-hack-catholic-jason-statham-scams/144350/

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