Articles on Social Engineering

• Networking A Close Look at PayPal Overpayment Scams That Target Craigslist Sellers
  PayPal overpayment scams target Craigslist sellers using fake payment notifications that ask victims to wire funds to a third-party "pickup agent." Scammers craft stories about working in rural areas...
• Tools Generating Domain Variations Used in Phishing
  The lookalike domains attackers will use against your brand are mostly predictable from a small set of mutation rules like bit flips, vowel swaps, IDN homographs, and missing dots. Free tools can...
• Social Engineering Website Backup Company's Misleading "Invoices" Suggest a Scam
  A letter built to look like an invoice can get a business to pay for a service it never ordered. WebsiteBackup mailed these letters, skipping the legally required 'this is not a bill' notice and...
• Social Engineering Conversation With a Tech Support Scammer
  This tech support scam used no malware, just a calm sales pitch built on legitimate tools and fake diagnostics. Each step sounded like helpful advice, which is what made the pitch work.
• Social Engineering The Manipulative Nature and Mechanics of Visitor Survey Scams
  A 'free reward' survey scam doesn't care how you answer its questions. Filling them out makes you invested enough to pay a small 'shipping fee' you would otherwise refuse.
• Social Networking Scammers Prescreen Victims for Tech Support Scams via Twitter and Phone
  Tech support scammers use Twitter bots to respond to public messages containing words like "virus" and "malware," inviting potential victims to call phone numbers where automated systems profile...