Scammers Stealing Gift Card Codes from Inboxes

In a blatant scam, a hacker group is targeting more than 100,000 inboxes per day to steal gift card codes and loyalty program information for resale on the dark web.

What is Going On?

According to Krebs on Security, a reliable source in the industry has been observing a group for the past three years that uses brute force attacks to try and hack into at least 100,000 email accounts per day.

The confidential source they are calling "Bill" says,

"he's not sure where the passwords are coming from, but he assumes they are tied to various databases for compromised websites that get posted to password cracking and hacking forums on a regular basis. Bill said this criminal group averages between five and ten million email authentication attempts daily and comes away with anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 working inbox credentials."

According to the observer, fifty percent of the attacks are verified by "IMAP," which is an email standard used by email software clients like Mozilla's Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook.' In addition, the group uses automated software to scan each box, looking for treasure.

Using the tools he has access to, Bill can see whether each account is verified correctly or not. Unlike most criminals who gain access to email accounts and use them for spam, this group only scans the content of each mailbox, looking for something of value to sell online, like gift card codes and loyalty program logins.

How Does it Work?

These types of items can fetch a profitable price on the dark web when sold in batches. Bill explains:

"Sometimes they'll log in as much as two to three times a week for months at a time," Bill said. "These guys are looking for low-hanging fruit — basically cash in your inbox. Whether it's related to hotel or airline rewards or just Amazon gift cards, after they successfully log in to the account, their scripts start pilfering inboxes looking for things that could be of value."

They have a script that scans each email for specific companies, brands, or loyalty program names to make things easy for them. The scam works like this. Hackers can gain access to emails that help them log into hotel or airline rewards; they can then empty the coffers and load that money onto a gift card and sell it elsewhere.

"These guys want that hard digital asset — the cash that is sitting there in your inbox," said Bill. "You literally just pull cash out of people's inboxes, and then you have all these secondary markets where you can sell this stuff."

This group doesn't just stop stealing what is there; they also sign people up for gift card benefits or loyalty programs when the information is just sitting there in an email waiting to be used. Then, somehow, they can use those benefits as well and profit. For example, a healthcare company rewards members with gift cards if they stop smoking or log gym visits. These are sometimes called "wellness benefits," and crooks are making out using them on behalf of other people.

Should You Be Worried?

The informant Bill says that victims show up across the board on all major email platforms and ISPs. Victims in Germany and France are particularly vulnerable to these types of attacks, sometimes 25,000-50,000 successful hacks per day.

As long as you protect your username and passwords and they are not exposed in a data breach, your account will be safer. It's always a good idea to change your email account and use a strong password for not easy to guess.