14 DAY TRIAL // Generally focusing on short text message and email spamming, the Com Spammers cybercriminal group appears to have been the one behind the latest diet pill spam attack on Pinterest.
Named so by Cloudmark researchers because .com domains are prevalent for landing pages in their deceitful operations, the group is known to employ videos from the Dr. Oz Show to make the websites and the offers more believable.
Dr. Oz has denied his association with these spam activities numerous times and even started a campaign designed to inform viewers and protect them from the fake products pushed under his alleged endorsement.
As pointed out earlier this week, Com Spammers copy content from legitimate sources and try to deceive potential “customers” by placing a legitimate-looking subdomain.
However, when their offer for the miracle diet pills is accessed, the victim is taken on a purchase page that has a different design than the initial page. This also looks like a valid form, but it seems like the crooks made the effort to add a fine footprint that reads: “It is recommended that users follow a strict diet and exercise regimen to achieve weight loss results.”
According to Cloudmark, “customers who have ordered report that they have been enrolled in a recurring subscription to purchase diet pills and will be billed about $100 every month for a worthless placebo.”
Researchers believe that Com Spammers are a multi-layer organization where three groups are in charge with specific tasks. First there are the spammers that attract the customers using unsolicited advertising delivered through channels such as email, SMS and social media.
In their task, they use compromised web servers, URL shortening services and even botnets and mass produced webmail accounts. Delivering the spam via multiple channels only increases the chances if not for a larger profit at least for regular income.
Cloudmark says that Cutwail spam tool that spread GameOver Zeus was part of the spammers’ arsenal.
At the center of the organization seems to be a single group that is responsible for the creation of the landing pages and the fake news on them.
The company discovered that Com Spammers are not engaged only in diet pills spam campaigns and, just like a business branches out or seeks new income opportunities, they also rely on alternative schemes involving working from home, anti-ageing creams or cruises.
The criminals would seize any opportunity to engage as many victims in their scheme and target the services on the web and the interconnection between the services, such as automatic posting of Facebook to Twitter only increases the number of victims.
Users are advised not to spare any occasion to report such practices as well as refrain from accessing unknown links that promise highly attractive content.