CHINESE GANGS MADE OVER $1B TARGETING AMERICANS WITH SCAM TEXTS

Summary from the TLDR InfoSec newsletter

Chinese organized crime groups have generated over $1 billion in just three years through a large-scale SMS scam operation targeting Americans with fake toll, postage, and government refund messages. The campaign has surged 350% since January 2024, with a record 330,000 scam texts reported in a single day. The operation uses US-based SIM farms to send messages, steals credit card data, and bypasses MFA by adding stolen cards to mobile wallets (which banks often trust after first use). The groups also employ 400-500 gig workers and money mules recruited via Telegram to buy and resell high-value goods and gift cards for laundering. Security teams should educate users to avoid unsolicited payment messages, verify messages through official channels, tighten device trust policies for mobile wallets, monitor gift card purchases, and deploy anti-malware solutions with web protection and scam detection capabilities.