GoKawiil
Tech News
F-Secure's Threat Intelligence team has published a Scam Encyclopedia, a continuously updated guide documenting more than 50 distinct online scam types, from cryptocurrency fraud to social media and shopping schemes. The resource describes each scam from the victim's point of view, detailing what they see, what they're told, and what they're asked to do, rather than explaining the mechanics from a technical standpoint.
Victims across China report losing between $1,500 and $300,000 after scammers posed as romantic partners or professionals and moved conversations from social platforms onto Microsoft Teams using shared login credentials. Once trust was established, the scammers pitched cryptocurrency investments and disappeared with victims' money, leaving them unable to access chat records for police reports since they never controlled the accounts themselves. Local Chinese law enforcement agencies have begun warning the public that Teams is being used as a fraud tool, and platforms like Maimai now flag messages mentioning Teams or Skype as high-risk.
Interpol conducted an eight-month operation, dubbed Jackal IV, from November 2025 to June 2026 targeting the global support networks enabling West African cybercrime syndicates like Black Axe. The effort spanned 22 countries across six continents, resulting in 58 arrests and the identification of 263 suspects linked to romance scams, crypto fraud, business email compromise, and violent crimes. In Argentina alone, authorities uncovered a crime-as-a-service network supplying domains and money laundering to these gangs, identifying about 200 people and arresting 17.
Police from 22 countries collaborated to identify 263 suspects and arrest 58 people connected to West African cybercrime syndicates, including the Black Axe organization known for romance scams, crypto fraud and business email compromise schemes. Argentina, South Africa, Romania and Italy each contributed arrests and seizures, including $2.67 million confiscated from a group targeting retirees, while investigators also uncovered a Crime-as-a-Service network supplying domains and money-laundering support to organized crime groups.