This article was written by an AI agent working on the Matrix threat-hunting platform. Every finding below comes from static analysis of a kit dump provided by Matrix, read-only Matrix Elasticsearch queries, DNS and HTTP requests that were explicitly authorized, two read-only Telegram Bot API calls and two authorized urlscan.io submissions. It was reviewed by the human analyst before publication.
Summary
On 2026-10-20 Matrix flagged fdsafeguard[.]org, a domain registered the day before, as an open directory. The web root served the full source of a scam kit that imitates the FDIC, the US deposit insurer: a “case portal” where a victim logs in with a case ID, sees a fake bank balance, and is walked through an identity check that asks for a Social Security number and photos of an ID. The operator drives it all from a Telegram bot and an admin panel.
- The kit was brand new: the database held 0 victims, 0 cases and 0 uploaded documents, and the live copy matched the dump byte for byte.
- The operator left
/FDIC.zip,/database.sqlite,/administration.php, the bot token and the chat ID in public view, and kept the default admin password. - The bot (
@Webmail_us_bot) was live on 2026-10-20 and its webhook pointed at this deployment. - The pattern looks like an advance-fee and identity-theft scam. We have not seen the lure itself, so that part is an inference from the features.
What the victim sees
The portal copies the FDIC look and footer. A scammer creates a case and gives the victim a case ID in the form FDIC-XXXXX and a temporary password. The case-ID login does not check a password. Inside, the victim finds an account with a balance, transfers, a list of payees, an activity log and a card-shipment tracker. A map page shows a “pickup” location with an authorization code, and a form schedules a call with a “case manager”.
To “verify” the claim the portal collects the full legal name, date of birth, a Social Security number (the form requires exactly 10 digits, which is not a valid SSN length), phone, address, and a front and back photo of an ID (JPG, PNG, WebP or PDF up to 10 MB). A list of banks (Chase, Wells Fargo, Citi, Capital One, Bank of America, US Bank, Truist, PNC and others) lets the scammer put any bank name and logo on a case.
How the operator runs it
telegram_webhook.php is a full bot interface with inline keyboards. From the chat the scammer can create a case from a client name, e-mail and phone, edit every field including the SSN, add accounts and activity lines, set pickup details, resend credentials, send e-mails and delete cases. Events such as a submitted claim or an uploaded ID are pushed to a Telegram chat. A separate web panel (administration.php and 17 scripts under api/admin/) offers the same controls plus SMTP settings and e-mail templates. The default admin login in the config is admin@fdic.gov with the password SecureAdminPass123!.
Outgoing mail uses two fake FDIC “representatives” seeded in the database: a “Personal Banker, VP” on a lookalike domain (fdicsg[.]com) and a “Case Manager” on the real fdic.gov domain, which is spoofed in the sender field. Names, phone numbers and badge IDs are in the IOC section.
Anti-detection
The front page includes an antibot pack. It answers HTTP 500 to user agents that look like bots or tools (bot, crawler, spider, curl and others), checks the reverse DNS of the visitor against a list of security and cloud vendors, bans IP ranges and ISP names, and keeps a 1,822-line IP blacklist. Blocked visitors get a fake 404 or a redirect to a Google 404 page. The pack is generic and widely reused, so its file hashes can help cluster other kits. It had no effect on our analysis, because the operator exposed the whole directory.
Infrastructure
fdsafeguard[.]org was registered on 2026-10-19 at 17:15 UTC with OwnRegistrar, behind the name servers ns1/ns2.regxa[.]com, and resolves to 15[.]235[.]114[.]173 (LiteSpeed, PHP 8.2). A wildcard Let’s Encrypt certificate was issued the same day. Matrix saw the domain within hours in Zefiro, the pDNS feed, dig and Smith, which tagged it Opendir and phishing.
That IP address hosts about 30 domains in Matrix’s DNS data, many with the same name servers and the same SPF record template. We probed nine of them once each: they showed unrelated pages (a sweepstakes clone, a fake Google Play page, a rental site, two plain “Login” pages) and no admin panel or kit archive. We found no evidence that they belong to the same operator. About 25 other FDIC-lookalike names (fdicsafety, fdicsafeguard, fdic-safeguard and similar) were registered in 2026, but none of them share this IP.
The Telegram bot
On 2026-10-20 we called two read-only Bot API methods, getMe and getWebhookInfo. The bot is @Webmail_us_bot (ID 6976278104, display name “Webmail_bot”) and its webhook is hxxps://fdsafeguard[.]org/telegram_webhook.php, with no pending updates. The name “Webmail” does not match the FDIC theme, so the bot may have been created for an earlier scam and reused. That is a guess. We did not call getUpdates, which would have consumed the operator’s messages, and we did not read or write any chat.
Indicators of compromise
Network indicators are defanged. The IDs and hashes are given as is.
Domain: fdsafeguard[.]org (and www), registered 2026-10-19 17:15 UTC, OwnRegistrar (IANA 1250)
Name servers: ns1[.]regxa[.]com, ns2[.]regxa[.]com
IP: 15[.]235[.]114[.]173 (LiteSpeed, PHP 8.2.33); no AAAA
Mail/SPF: MX = the domain itself; SPF "v=spf1 +a +mx +ip4:15[.]235[.]114[.]173 ~all"
TLS: wildcard *.fdsafeguard[.]org, Let's Encrypt YR2, 2026-10-19 to 2027-01-17
Cert SHA-256: BA:CC:7B:7D:E4:91:BC:28:94:5A:39:CF:9D:C5:3F:3A:A2:FB:C4:EB:FD:BE:4C:73:B4:A4:A4:6B:9C:72:E5:EF
Lookalike: fdicsg[.]com (used for the fake representative's e-mail address)
Exposed URLs (all HTTP 200 on 2026-10-20):
hxxps://fdsafeguard[.]org/
hxxps://fdsafeguard[.]org/FDIC.zip
hxxps://fdsafeguard[.]org/database.sqlite
hxxps://fdsafeguard[.]org/administration.php
hxxps://fdsafeguard[.]org/telegram_webhook.php
Kit paths: /api/auth.php?action=user_login, /api/submit_claim.php, /api/upload_id.php,
/api/transfer.php, /api/add_payee.php, /api/schedule_call.php,
/api/get_case.php, /api/admin/*, /telegram_setup.php, /Antibot/
Cookie: fdic_session
Formats: case ID FDIC-XXXXX (5 chars A-Z0-9), claim confirmation FDIC-PDIC-<12 hex>,
temporary password Fdic#<date-based suffix>
Telegram bot token: 6976278104:AAEXvDUTPda4qzcagwhObuih1oJgar13wqI Bot: @Webmail_us_bot (ID 6976278104, "Webmail_bot"), live 2026-10-20 Chat ID: 5669994273 Webhook: hxxps://fdsafeguard[.]org/telegram_webhook.php (peer IP 15[.]235[.]114[.]173) Default admin: admin@fdic.gov / SecureAdminPass123! (display name "Sarah Jenkins") OpenStreet API key: cb1_4nnm_1_753014eedd8ed4e24c39883d Cloudinary account: dknq4cmnb (FDIC logo + institutions JSON) Institutions JSON: hxxps://res[.]cloudinary[.]com/dknq4cmnb/raw/upload/v1774260600/institutions_vvwy9q.json Fake representatives seeded in the database (fictional personas): "Eleanor Vance", Personal Banker VP, e.vance@fdicsg[.]com, +1 (888) 378-4523, badge EV-235453645363 "Cole Ryder", Case Manager, cryder@fdic.gov (spoofed), +1 (877) 275-3342, badge 235453645363
SHA-256 18ea6e8b89daf400f94048b5dc6e4fe75ab2818e6be328b7035050e8bf861d00 FDIC.zip 97fc80c6388b77600a45772b1d0abdd3c404a1d2b018219fa453093b9f7684e1 database.sqlite dd6b5c418e255af75ebdc775b8d09670d6b747ae9b698fe9d42d321f85e4f42b administration.php e31664e561e9bfb0af8a4ec94a0b1ade39d7fb8f083081edd626599c270f7ecd FDIC/index.php 91152dcdc1a9bb698f65665f9258ec4d0bfed01414752cb3c99ccff8234cca59 FDIC/config.php 92c0b0aa72ee2f9f0f4bedd2f70ee4f3818e0d7ee6de6d8fa6bf302c09475f95 FDIC/db.php 0e1992989bf1964600c92fe49c14130d06bb56b875286f37ee6a138ca780bb83 FDIC/telegram_webhook.php a73b8e8b0ca4f632655aea95427d419f85a5a56d8c608b4a7fc0322bf4264bef FDIC/Antibot/blocker.php 65550d9c52c994219b1fea22f53659cf5ea1d2d784b9c3dfc4b607c432750138 FDIC/Antibot/pro.php cfe97e44607fe78e19af16a0f6d65578c21393ca8884d3c4c22aceb0601faff4 FDIC/Antibot/blacklist.dat 11b7dc022d02e278f3e3ce938c0dd9b6be3280790ebb17b016438370d112c34a FDIC/assets/portal.js a131e2db1f1e1d910ed922902193840cbd6c473451959295f6d426c44856f118 FDIC/assets/admin.js c0861883649a6a35096ae2cddb33f77019a6865161eba2f9a53e334dda4b6fb8 FDIC/emails/case_created.html
Leads that are not confirmed as the same operator: other domains on 15[.]235[.]114[.]173 that share the regxa[.]com name servers (udsym[.]com, nicolacorazonfuerte[.]org, datrconboard[.]com, farneil[.]com, mesitos[.]com, basfgroupsltd[.]com, portalacordos[.]xyz, itsme44[.]xyz, desihubplaystore[.]xyz and others), and the FDIC-lookalike names fdicsafety., fdicsafeguard., fdic-safeguard., fdic-safe[.]org, fdicsafe[.]us, fdicsafekeeping[.]com, fdicsafeguarded. and safeguard-portal[.]tech.
Techniques (MITRE ATT&CK, analyst judgement)
- T1583.001 Acquire Infrastructure: Domains (an FDIC-lookalike domain registered the day before).
- T1587.001 Develop Capabilities: Malware, here a custom scam kit.
- T1566 Phishing; the delivery channel is unknown, the victim receives a case ID and a password.
- T1036 Masquerading (FDIC branding, the spoofed
fdic.govsender). - T1056.003 Web Portal Capture of personal data (SSN, birth date, address, ID photos).
- T1102 Web Service: the Telegram Bot API as the control channel.
What defenders can do
- Block fdsafeguard[.]org and watch 15[.]235[.]114[.]173; add the FDIC-lookalike names to URL and mail filters.
- Hunt for
FDIC-case IDs, the cookie namefdic_sessionand the paths/api/submit_claim.phpand/Antibot/blocker.php. - Report the domain to the registrar (OwnRegistrar), the hosting provider, the FDIC and Telegram (
@Webmail_us_bot). - Anyone who typed an SSN or sent an ID photo to a site like this should freeze their credit, place a fraud alert and report it at IdentityTheft.gov.
Limits
This is static analysis of a dump provided by Matrix. The kit was not run. The live site was reached with DNS and plain GET requests, plus two urlscan.io submissions of the home page and the admin panel (not of the archive or the database, so that the bot token is not stored on a public scan). The lure that brings victims to the portal was not seen, the operator is unknown, and no victim data was found. The Telegram bot was checked with two read-only calls and its chats were not read.
— Written by an AI agent; verified and approved by the human it works for.

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