We devised the title Telekopye as a portmanteau of Telegram and kopye (копье), the Russian phrase for spear, attributable to the usage of extremely focused (aka spear-) phishing. Victims of this rip-off operation are referred to as Mammoths by the scammers (see Determine 1) and a number of other leads level to Russia because the nation of origin of the toolkit’s authors and customers. For the sake of readability, and following the identical logic, we’ll seek advice from the scammers utilizing Telekopye as Neanderthals.

Due to human nature, scamming in on-line marketplaces appears to be very straightforward. It normally comes right down to a number of key elements of the rip-off, as seen in Determine 2, that Neanderthals comply with. First, Neanderthals discover their victims (Mammoths). Then they attempt to earn their belief and persuade them that they’re official (why that is wanted we’ll focus on partly 2). When Neanderthals assume {that a} Mammoth sufficiently trusts them, they use Telekopye to create a phishing net web page from a premade template and ship the URL to the Mammoth (the URL can be despatched through SMS or electronic mail). After the mammoth submits card particulars through this web page, the Neanderthals use these card particulars to steal cash from the Mammoth’s credit score/debit card, whereas hiding the cash utilizing a number of completely different strategies equivalent to laundering it by means of cryptocurrency. Based mostly on a number of dialog snippets, we assess that some crypto mixers are concerned. There’s a lacking hyperlink between when cash is scammed from the Mammoth and the payout to the Neanderthals, which is normally in cryptocurrency.

Telekopye has a number of completely different functionalities that Neanderthals can use to their full extent. These functionalities embrace sending phishing emails, producing phishing net pages, sending SMS messages, creating QR codes, and creating phishing screenshots. Within the following sections, we’ll concentrate on essentially the most helpful elements of Telekopye for the typical Neanderthal.

Each Telegram group utilizing Telekopye consists of a number of Neanderthals that function concurrently and independently. Performance is obtainable by means of buttons, prone to make scamming simpler for Neanderthals.

Determine 3 reveals one of many menus of Telekopye in a working Telegram group. Significantly noteworthy are the buttons “My advertisements”, exhibiting all opened listings (ongoing rip-off ads) every Neanderthal has, and “My profile”, permitting Neanderthals to see their profile info on this platform, such because the variety of scams pulled off, sum of money prepared for subsequent payout, and so on.

The core function of Telekopye is that it creates phishing net pages from predefined HTML templates on demand. A Neanderthal must specify the sum of money, product title and, primarily based on the template, further info like location to which the product might be despatched, image, weight, and purchaser’s title. Then Telekopye takes all this info and creates a phishing net web page. These phishing net pages are designed to imitate completely different fee/financial institution login websites, credit score/debit card fee gateways, or just fee pages of various web sites.

To make the phishing web site creation course of simpler, these web site templates are organized by nations they aim. Determine 4 reveals a easy creation menu the place some templates are sorted in response to completely different nations. The one outlier is BlaBlaCar for country-independent car-sharing providers.

Determine 5 reveals one such phishing net web page, seemingly not totally perfected but.

The completed product is seen in Determine 6, an eBay net web page look-alike that’s nearly unrecognizable from the unique (or a minimum of appears like one thing one would count on from the official web site).  By clicking the Obtain %amount2% EUR button, a Mammoth is proven a faux credit score/debit card gateway.

These phishing domains aren’t straightforward to identify. Normally, Neanderthals register a site after which create subdomains for every focused market in such a manner that the ultimate URL begins with the anticipated model title. In Desk 1 discover that just one area – olx.id7423[.]ru – is used to focus on the favored market OLX. An instance of a official area for the OLX market is olx.ua. Briefly, they normally use .ru as their top-level domains and transfer second-level domains to the third-level area’s place.

Desk 1. Examples of a number of domains used for phishing

Neanderthals don’t switch cash stolen from Mammoths to their very own accounts. As a substitute, all of the Neanderthals use a shared Telekopye account managed by the Telekopye administrator. Telekopye retains observe of how profitable every Neanderthal is by logging related contributions to that shared account – both in a easy textual content file or a SQL database.

As a consequence, Neanderthals receives a commission by the Telekopye administrator. Cost is break up into three elements:

1.    Fee to the Telekopye administrator.

2.    Fee to recommender (suggestion system is mentioned later within the weblog publish).

3.    Precise payout.

The fee to the Telekopye administrator is 5–40%, relying on the Telekopye model and Neanderthal position (roles are additionally mentioned later within the weblog publish).

As soon as a Neanderthal turns into eligible for a payout, he asks Telekopye for one. Telekopye checks the Neanderthal’s stability, remaining request is accredited by the Telekopye administrator and, lastly, funds are transferred to the Neanderthal’s cryptocurrency pockets. In some Telekopye implementations, step one, asking for a payout, is automated and the negotiation is initiated at any time when a Neanderthal reaches a sure threshold of stolen cash from efficiently pulled off scams (e.g., 500 RUB). The method of the guide payout request is illustrated in Determine 7 and the related a part of the Telekopye supply code in Determine 8.

Telekopye retains logs of processed payouts in a separate Telegram channel. A Neanderthal who’s paid additionally receives a hyperlink to this channel, in all probability to have the ability to confirm that the transaction is logged. Determine 9 reveals an instance of such a logs channel.

The Telekopye administrator doesn’t switch the cash by means of Telekopye itself. As a substitute, the admin makes use of both a instrument referred to as “BTC Trade bot”, seemingly an unbiased Telegram bot, or transfers the cash manually. Nonetheless, now we have noticed rising integration of payout-related options into Telekopye, so this will change sooner or later.

Neanderthals can instruct Telekopye to create and ship electronic mail messages. The sender is a predefined electronic mail account shared between all of the Neanderthals. These electronic mail accounts are usually related to the phishing domains arrange by Neanderthals. Determine 10 reveals the code to spoof the e-mail headers From and Reply-To in order that the e-mail messages seem extra official.

Determine 11 reveals one in every of many templates used to create phishing electronic mail our bodies. No further info has been given, so default values are proven, as a substitute of user-defined textual content, for %title% and %quantity%. A malicious URL is hidden behind the “Go to fee” button.

Apart from phishing emails, Telekopye permits Neanderthals to create and ship SMS messages in an identical method. Determine 12 illustrates the piece of code liable for creating and sending such messages.

Some implementations of Telekopye even have predefined SMS texts in numerous languages. All SMS templates say kind of the identical factor, for instance, “Your merchandise has been paid for. To obtain funds, fill out the shape: <malicious_link>”. Examples of a number of SMS templates are proven in Determine 13, the place authentic Russian templates are proven.How this SMS appears when a Mammoth receives it may be seen in Determine 14.

Telekopye depends closely on on-line providers equivalent to smscab.ru or smshub.org to ship SMS messages. We’ve analyzed an older variant, the place Telekopye used one hardcoded telephone quantity shared amongst all Neanderthals. Nonetheless, seemingly as a result of blocking one telephone quantity would end in blocking all Neanderthals’ messages, this function was discontinued.

On this part, we describe how easy it’s for Neanderthals utilizing Telekopye to create convincing photos and screenshots. Some variations of Telekopye have a part referred to as Render bot. Though Render bot may very well be categorised as a standalone bot, we’ll deal with it as a part of Telekopye.

When Render bot is added to a Telegram chat, we’re greeted with the preliminary message seen in Determine 15.

This provides us good perception into how this a part of Telekopye works. We will classify the makes use of of Render bot into two classes. First, it may be used to mangle photos in order that they don’t seem to be straightforward to cross-reference. Second, it may possibly create faux photos that should appear like official screenshots. On this part, we’ll focus first on the creation of those faux screenshots, a function much like creating phishing web sites.

Not like faux net pages which can be generated from HTML templates, the bottom for faux screenshots is a JPG picture with some key elements eliminated. These elements embrace the supposed paid worth, debit/bank card quantity, title, title, and so on. This transformation is proven in Determine 16, the place there’s a side-by-side comparability of a plain template and a crammed template. As a result of these are photos, there aren’t any interactive buttons, in contrast to the e-mail and phishing net web page counterparts.

There’s a excessive emphasis on making the inserted textual content match in addition to doable, so Telekopye helps a number of completely different fonts. Simply as beforehand, all habits is hardcoded and no AI is used. We discovered 9 templates for Sberbank, Avito, Youla, Qiwi, and some different providers.

From the Neanderthals’ perspective, creating these screenshots is not any completely different from creating phishing net pages. A Neanderthal solely wants to provide just a few bits of knowledge, and Telekopye creates a faux screenshot/picture from them.

In Render bot folders it is usually doable to see one in every of these templates within the means of creation. Determine 17 reveals a photograph of an bill for a parcel, with numbered fields. Builders of Telekopye erase all fields with numbers subsequent to them and attempt to match their very own font fashion and font measurement in them. When they’re glad with how the ultimate product appears, they add it to the bot for different Neanderthals to make use of as a brand new template.

One other no much less vital performance of this a part of Telekopye is picture manipulation. From the code and its feedback, it’s doable to assemble that it is ready to change photos of marketed items in order that engines like google can’t cross-reference them. We assume that if the picture was discovered on an internet market, AI antispam safety would flag it as malicious. This transformation may be very easy and consists of a vertical flip of the picture and a small change in distinction.

Due to content material from Telekopye supply information, we assess that the builders are attempting to experiment with differing types/variations of the rip-off. For instance, within the code, we see QR code era performance (Determine 18). This would possibly imply one in every of two issues. Both it’s a part of the payout course of or they’re making an attempt to make it a brand new trick for scamming. A possible cause is that Mammoths don’t assume twice when paying through a QR code. So we estimate that there’s going to be a small enhance in scams utilizing these sorts of tips.

From Determine 15 it appears as if Render bot can create faux checks for Sberbank. However in actuality, it may possibly solely create fee confirmations (Determine 19).

Teams of scammers utilizing Telekopye are organized right into a hierarchy with least to most privileges so as as follows:

1.    Directors

2.    Moderators

3.    Good employees / Assist bots

4.    Employees

5.    Blocked

We’ve noticed some variants enriching this record with just a few additions, however these 5 roles stay the premise. We concentrate on every position in additional element within the sections beneath.

Telekopye additionally employs a referral system. When a brand new Neanderthal needs to hitch the group, he must fill in an utility (how a lot “business” expertise he has, who invited him, and so on.). This utility then must be accepted by Moderators or Directors to ensure that the brand new Neanderthal to hitch.

A person with this position will not be ready to make use of any a part of the Telekopye toolkit. Guidelines which can be a part of Telekopye supply code recommend that is some form of punishment for breaking them (Determine 20).

That is the most typical position that the majority new Neanderthals begin with. With this position, Neanderthals are ready to make use of each Telekopye function, excluding moderation of the group. Throughout payout, this position has the worst fee charges, as seen in Desk 2.

This position is a direct improve of the Employee position. The one distinction is that Neanderthals with this position don’t have to present such a big share of their payout to the platform proprietor.

To get this position, Neanderthals should show their usefulness – pull off quite a lot of scams or obtain a certain quantity of stolen funds.

Generally it’s doable to see that this position is reserved for help bots. We aren’t sure what these bots are.

Directors are the best position within the group. They will use Telekopye to its full extent. On prime of moderators’ capabilities, they’ll modify Telekopye settings – add phishing net web page templates, change/add electronic mail addresses that the bot makes use of, and alter payout charges, payout kind, and so on.

The simplest technique to inform whether or not you’re being focused by a Neanderthal making an attempt to steal your cash is by wanting on the language used. It may be the language utilized in dialog, electronic mail, or on the net web page itself. Sadly, this isn’t foolproof, and it has been noticed that a few of these rip-off makes an attempt have ironed out grammar and vocabulary errors.

Insist on in-person cash and items change at any time when doable when coping with secondhand items on on-line marketplaces. Such trades aren’t protected by well-known establishments or providers. These scams are solely doable as a result of Neanderthals fake they already paid on-line/despatched an merchandise. Sadly, typically in-person supply will not be doable and in that case it’s essential be further cautious.

Keep away from sending cash except you’re sure the place it is going to go. When it’s essential ship cash someplace, verify the net web page for grammatical errors and graphical disproportions. If you’re fortunate, a template can have some inaccuracies. Additionally verify the web site certificates and look carefully on the URL, which will be made to appear like an actual hyperlink.

Be careful for strong-arm arguments like “I’ll ship cash by means of service XYZ. Are you aware the way it works?”. Ask if one other fee kind is feasible and particularly if they’re prepared to just accept fee from a service you’re acquainted with. This isn’t foolproof as a result of scammers have a number of templates, however you would possibly be capable of acknowledge a faux template extra simply if you use a fee technique identified to you.

Be further cautious when clicking on hyperlinks in SMS messages or emails, even when they appear as if they arrive from a good supply. Neanderthals aren’t any strangers to electronic mail spoofing. A superb rule of thumb is to ask your self whether or not you acquire one thing that may make respected sources ship you emails like that. If you’re uncertain, go to the supposed service’s web site instantly (not utilizing the hyperlink within the electronic mail/SMS) and ask. Most of those pages have buyer help and they’re going to fortunately provide you with a hand.

We found and analyzed Telekopye, a toolkit that helps much less technical individuals pull off on-line scams extra simply. We estimate that Telekopye was in use since a minimum of 2015. We centered on one model, analyzing its fundamental capabilities and uncovering how Telekopye works internally. These capabilities embrace creating phishing web sites, sending phishing SMS and emails, and creating faux screenshots. We additionally described the hierarchy of teams utilizing Telekopye. Due to our telemetry, we additionally discovered that this instrument remains to be in use and in energetic growth. The second Telekopye weblog publish, which might be launched later, uncovers the internal working of the rip-off teams.

Acknowledgement

The writer wish to thank Ondřej Novotný for the preliminary discovery.