According to US authorities, state-sponsored hackers from North Korea stole over $400 million in cryptocurrency by deploying fake video calls to compromise identities.
The FBI, which labels the operation FaceStealer, reports that over 900 victims have been targeted in the past 18 months.
FBI Cyber Director Brett Leatherman warns that the North Korean regime leverages large-scale cryptocurrency theft to fund its illicit weapons program, amassing billions of dollars in recent years.
This announcement follows last week’s revelation that Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, fell victim to a record-breaking $6.3 billion (£4.7 billion) heist involving fake job interviews.
US law enforcement agencies have attributed the Binance hack—which is believed to be the largest cryptocurrency heist to date—to actors linked to North Korea, a claim the Pyongyang regime has denied.
Authorities indicate that FaceStealer specifically targets professionals in the cryptocurrency and web3 sectors, with a focus on developers and maintainers of open-source software.
The FBI and US Justice Department explain that FaceStealer operatives use fabricated or hijacked social media accounts to lure victims into video calls hosted on impostor versions of popular platforms including Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet.
During these calls, hackers play pre-recorded videos featuring individuals the target knows, convincingly simulating a legitimate conference while audio appears to malfunction.
A prompt then appears on the victim’s screen urging them to “fix” the audio by clicking a link; this action ultimately downloads malware onto their device, granting hackers access to contact lists and applications, thereby expanding their victim pool.
US authorities report that hackers secretly record these sessions and later exploit the recordings to scam newly targeted victims.
The FBI characterizes FaceStealer as “a highly effective social engineering scheme capable of deceiving even the most experienced technical and security-conscious computer user”.
Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, stated in a Thursday release: “It exploits our trust in ubiquitous video conference platforms and valued personal relationships.”
‘If you cannot imagine a scenario where you might fall prey to it, you are not thinking creatively enough,’ Grandy warned.
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