BAE Systems: Lazarus hackers use gift cards
Criminals never sleep, scammers are constantly developing methods of their own dishonest trade. That is why you and I should also remain on our guard so as not to involuntarily become a link in a criminal chain of Lazarus Group. We recommend that you read the material below with increased attention. After all, further – the analysis of the now popular criminal scheme, which involves digital gift cards. So, let’s start discussing a new illegal instrument.
Who is behind the investigation?
An attentive reader has noticed the mention of a large company BAE Systems. This company is based in Britain, from where it makes exposures of all kinds of swindlers. This defense company works in conjunction with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, SWIFT. Experienced specialists have long been on the trail of the group, whose representatives call themselves the Lazarus Group. Security experts have been following the work of criminals for a long time, but experts only came up with specific schemes today. Swindlers, allegedly working for North Korea, are mainly engaged in theft of digital assets.
The main activity of criminals is the theft of cryptocurrency. Fraudsters steal huge amounts of funds from poorly secured wallets, weak exchanges or exchangers. Then the money must be “laundered”. The fact is that any digital coin has a specific number, which can be verified and understood that there is a stolen unit in front of you. This is why scammers spend a lot of time and effort cleaning up the funds they get.
Most likely, the work is based on the classical methods laid down by Al Capone. The stolen array of funds is divided into several parts, approximately the same, for convenience. Then they start sending money to tens, hundreds of addresses. Thus, the final funds are obtained with completely different numbers. Of course, such a criminal tangle can be unraveled, so this method is not used for really large capitals. Truly colossal funds need to be funneled through companies registered with the Lazarus Group dummies. But you are probably wondering: what does the gift cards have to do with it and how not to become a victim of scammers? The answer is in the next section.
How to protect yourself from the Lazarus Group
Gift cards are one of the basic tools used by this hacker group. This is a fairly popular calculation tool lately, thanks to which not only ordinary users work, but also dangerous hackers. For example, fraudsters buy gift cards on exchanges, pass Bitcoins and other coins through them. Then, when the specific coin numbers have already been changed, the gift certificates are displayed on third-party platforms. That is, the card purchased on Binance leaves the site, goes to Bitfinex, where it is activated, allowing fraudsters to gain access to dishonestly earned currency.
