Two domains related in COVID-19 scheme scams seized by US federal
The Federal government from US has seized two domains impersonating as Biotechnologies companies Moderna and Regeneron working on development of COVID-19 vaccines.
The two seized sites were used for malicious purposes like running scams, infecting visitors with malware and collecting their personal and sensitive information for phishing attacks.
The Justice department said, “Individuals visiting those sites now will see a message that the site has been seized by the federal government and be redirected to another site for additional information.”
United States Attorney for the District Maryland Robert K. Hur requested people after the seized to remain vigilant and avoid providing personal details and clicking on websites/ links on unsolicited emails.
The investigation on the two domains namely mordernatx[.]com and regeneronmedicals[.]com was prompted after a report from Moderna’s cybersecurity team and various ongoing investigation on malicious sites.
In both the cases, when people want to reach to the Contact Us option to the seized sites were redirected to a form that requested them to enter their personal info like name, company/ institution, title, phone number and addresses. Some people were asked to reach out through Voice over IP number.
DOJ said, “By seizing these sites, the government has prevented third parties from acquiring the names and using them to commit additional crimes, as well as prevented third parties from continuing to access the sites in their present form.
According to US Federal Trade Commission, over 275, 000 Americans have reported financial loss of over $21 million through COVID-19 scams since the year.
Threats actors are targeting COVID-19 research as well as vaccine Cod chain, involved in storing and supping the vaccines.
As Homeland Security investigations Special Agent, John Eisert said, “These individuals took advantage of fear during the global pandemic and attempted to steal personal information for nefarious purposes.”
