The Dark Nexus Between Harm Groups and ‘The Com’

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2024 12:16:45 +0000

A cyberattack that shut down some of the top casinos in Las Vegas last year quickly became one of the most riveting security stories of 2023: It was the first known case of native English-speaking hackers in the United States and Britain teaming up with ransomware gangs based in Russia. But that made-for-Hollywood narrative has eclipsed a far more hideous trend: Many of these young, Western cybercriminals are also members of fast-growing online groups that exist solely to bully, stalk, harass and extort vulnerable teens into physically harming themselves and others.

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NJ Man Hired Online to Firebomb, Shoot at Homes Gets 13 Years in Prison

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2023 13:08:27 +0000

A 22-year-old New Jersey man has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison for participating in a firebombing and a shooting at homes in Pennsylvania last year. Patrick McGovern-Allen was the subject of a Sept. 4, 2022 story here about the emergence of “violence-as-a-service” offerings, where random people from the Internet hire themselves out to perform a variety of local, physical attacks, including firebombing a home, “bricking” windows, slashing tires, or performing a drive-by shooting at someone’s residence.

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Hacked Ring Cams Used to Record Swatting Victims

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2022 01:24:10 +0000

Two U.S. men have been charged with hacking into the Ring home security cameras of a dozen random people and then “swatting” them — falsely reporting a violent incident at the target’s address to trick local police into responding with force. Prosecutors say the duo used the compromised Ring devices to stream live video footage on social media of police raiding their targets’ homes, and to taunt authorities when they arrived.

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SIM Swapper Abducted, Beaten, Held for $200k Ransom

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Wed, 21 Sep 2022 16:17:08 +0000

A Florida teenager who served as a lackey for a cybercriminal group that specializes in cryptocurrency thefts was beaten and kidnapped last week by a rival cybercrime gang. The teen’s captives held guns to his head while forcing him to record a video message pleading with his crew to fork over a $200,000 ransom in exchange for his life. The youth is now reportedly cooperating with U.S. federal investigators, who are responding to an alarming number of reports of physical violence tied to certain online crime communities.

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Botched Crypto Mugging Lands Three U.K. Men in Jail

Credit to Author: BrianKrebs| Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2022 17:55:25 +0000

Three men in the United Kingdom were arrested this month after police responding to an attempted break-in at a residence stopped their car as they fled the scene. The authorities found weapons and a police uniform in the trunk, and say the trio intended to assault a local man and force him to hand over virtual currencies. 

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