Social Engineering Attacks Increases in Q4 2022, Reveals Avast Labs

What does the report say?

• Refund and invoice fraud saw a 22% jump in December 2022, with perpetrators utilizing emails originating from a trustworthy organization to create the illusion of unauthorized charges and false receipts.
• In some cases, the intended victim was also contacted via a specific telephone number by an attacker posing as an agent and requested access to the individual’s computer and financial accounts.
• The tech support attacks were aimed at stealing money or engaging in information theft or spying on victims. 
• The tech support scams were prominent across the U.S., Brazil, Japan, Canada, and France. 

Rise in adware and information-stealing trojans

• Avast Labs researchers also observed an increase in the prevalence of DealPly adware that was distributed via Google Chrome extensions.
• The adware is behind 97,525 infection attempts made in the first half of the year and continued to make strides with more victims observed in America, Europe, and South Asia. 
• The global spread of Arkei information stealer also rose by 437% in the last quarter. This was followed by the rising volumes of AgentTesla (57%) and RedLine Stealer (37%) across the world.

Conclusion