- \n
- The US will return $2.3 million seized from Binance to fraud victims.<\/li>\n
- Viber found no evidence of a 740 GB data leak.<\/li>\n
- Incognito Market began extorting users after an exit scam.<\/li>\n
- A fake Bitcoin wallet, Leather, was available on the App Store for over two weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
US to Return $2.3 Million Seized from Binance to Fraud Victims<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The US Department of Justice announced<\/a> it will reimburse $2.3 million confiscated from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance to victims of a “pig butchering” scheme.<\/p>\n
The investigation began in 2023 after a Massachusetts resident reported losing $400,000. By tracing the transaction chain, investigators identified two wallets on the Binance exchange containing a total of $2.3 million in various cryptocurrencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These funds were linked to 36 other US residents who fell victim to various fraudulent schemes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In January 2024, authorities secured a court order to confiscate assets from these two accounts, including:<\/p>\n
- \n
- 299,457 USDC;<\/li>\n
- 1,455,305 USDT;<\/li>\n
- 102,278 TRX;<\/li>\n
- 3,032 SOL;<\/li>\n
- 67 BNB;<\/li>\n
- 13,703 ADA;<\/li>\n
- 0.5 ETH.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
On average, each victim lost more than $62,000.<\/p>\n
Viber Found No Evidence of 740 GB Data Leak<\/strong><\/h2>\n
On March 14, the hacker group Handala Hack claimed<\/a> to have breached Viber’s servers and stolen over 740 GB of data, including source code.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To support their claim, they published screenshots of a control panel showing login logs and message history. The dump is being sold for 8 BTC.<\/p>\n
Source: BreachForums.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n However, Viber representatives told Cybernews<\/a> they found no evidence of a breach in their systems or compromise of user data.<\/p>\n
Hackers Breached IMF Email Accounts<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported the compromise of 11 email accounts within the organization, according to Bleeping Computer<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The incident was discovered in February, and an assessment of its impact is ongoing.<\/p>\n
So far, the IMF has found no evidence that the attackers accessed other systems or resources.<\/p>\n
The organization stated it uses Microsoft’s cloud-based email platform 365, but the cyberattack is not part of the recent breach of the tech giant.<\/p>\n
Key LockBit Member Sentenced to Prison in Canada<\/strong><\/h2>\n
An Ontario court sentenced Mikhail Vasiliev, a key member of the LockBit hacker group, to four years in prison and fined him $860,000, as reported by local media<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The Russian and Canadian citizen was found guilty of orchestrating numerous ransomware attacks between 2021 and 2022, extorting over $100 million from his victims.<\/p>\n
Court sketch of Mikhail Vasiliev. Source: John Mantha.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Vasiliev was arrested in October 2022. During the investigation, he confessed to extortion, causing harm, and crimes involving weapons.<\/p>\n
After serving his sentence in Canada, Vasiliev faces extradition to the US, where additional charges await him.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Moldovan citizen Sandu Boris Diaconu received a 42-month prison sentence in the US for operating the darknet marketplace E-Root. After his release, he will be under supervision for three more years, according to court documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Diaconu pleaded guilty<\/a> to one count of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and four counts of possession of unauthorized access devices.<\/p>\n
Incognito Market Extorts Users After Exit Scam<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The administration of the darknet marketplace Incognito Market, which executed an exit scam involving millions in cryptocurrency in early March, announced plans to release user data. The marketplace is demanding payments ranging from $100 to $20,000 to delete the information, reports KrebsOnSecurity<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The perpetrators threaten to publish the history of 557,000 orders and 862,000 transactions by the end of May. They also claim to have access to all personal messages between sellers and buyers, as they “never encrypted or deleted” them.<\/p>\n
Source: Incognito Market website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n The extortion message includes a “Payment Status” table listing the marketplace’s top sellers.<\/p>\n
Source: Incognito Market website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Incognito Market stated that on April 1, users who paid the ransom would gain access to all their data with the option to delete it.<\/p>\n
Fake Bitcoin Wallet Leather Available on App Store for Over Two Weeks<\/strong><\/h2>\n
On March 4, developers of the cryptocurrency wallet Leather warned users about a malicious version of their app on the App Store. An official iOS program does not yet exist.<\/p>\n
\n
PSA: The Leather Wallet app currently in the iOS store is FAKE ?<\/p>\n
\u26a0\ufe0f Do not download it, and definitely do not input your seed phrase.<\/p>\n
We promise we’ll let you know once our mobile app is actually ready!<\/p>\n
Leather should only be downloaded directly from https:\/\/t.co\/V9zpQR40uC<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Leather \u2014 The Bitcoin wallet for the rest of us (@LeatherBTC) March 4, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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