please, don’t call every idiot who commits crimes using a computer a “hacker”. I know I’m harping on about this, but it’s very important to me. The term “hacker” refers to an individual who studies, commits himself, and is driven by an indomitable passion. The press, however, decided that this term was appropriate for any idiot who commits a crime using a computer.
Today I bring you a splendid example of an idiot that some will call a “hacker”.
This genius registered a domain (helpvdeskerify247[.]com) to install a kit to steal credentials from Bank of America customers. Matrix discovered the domain and reported it as “opendir.”
The domain was flagged on urlscan some minutes after registration 😉
Since it was clearly suspicious, Matrix continued monitoring. After a few hours Matrix intercepts a change on the site and identifies a cloacker, which it then reports as a possible threat.
A day later, the criminal takes down the site and exposes the kit: Matrix then intercepts, downloads, and analyzes it. It identifies and reports it, highlighting the threat.
Here, the criminal already proves he’s no genius. Analyzing the kit, however, reveals a hidden gem… To secure the credentials, the kit uses a Telegram bot:
7937236406:AAGHUl2hThlX_SuxhkIuxVk2ZhAPoxuW8Ao
Okay, nothing unusual, so what’s the strangeness? The genius, instead of leaving the information in the bot’s queue, decides to record a callback. The attack therefore seems a bit more complex than usual. But here’s where the genius shines: the callback is based on the same domain where the kit is located!
So, after traveling around the world, where did the stolen credentials end up? In a damn JSON file on the same machine. 😀 😀 😀
I challenge anyone here to use the term “hacker” to describe this guy!!!
Besides, after two days, GSB and VT continue to ignore this domain. Very well, I’d say.
Searching for something else I found a notification for a malware detected months ago, the thing that struck me was the name of the file: FixInternet.exe
In the following article I talk about some approaches to mitigate the damage from a criminal attack. I am not sure if what I am talking about is legal in all countries, so do your research first. Or use a VPS in Russia 😀
Telegram is one of the main tools used by criminals to receive stolen information through various types of attacks, including of course phishing sites.
Below I outline some simple actions we can take to mitigate Telegram bot-based attacks. But first let’s see how to use a token.
For this post I will use a token identified in these hours within a kit distributed on different domains:
psyclum.org
lwonsio.org
peyssc.org
katjrig.org
katjriv.org
sorajfm.org
niondin.org
Analyzing the deployment methods of the kit, we can see how the criminal registered the various domains and only after several days installed the kit. This in an attempt to avoid being intercepted. Fortunately, Matrix also manages these situations 🙂
Let’s move on to the kit, as always it’s a piece of junk written in PHP. Inside we find the Telegram bot token to which stolen credentials are sent to unwary users.
Now let’s move on to the main topic of this article: we have a token, what do we do with it? First, let’s study. Here is the documentation on how to use bots: https://core.telegram.org/bots/api
Using VS Code and the amazing “REST Client” extension we can query bots and use it to mitigate criminal action. First, using the “getMe” method I check if the token is active. The 200 return code and the Json in response indicate that the token is active and therefore ready to receive information from clients, including the phishing site itself.
When the unwary user enters their credentials into the phishing site, it sends the information to the Telegram bot. Two things can happen here: if there is a registered webhook, the information is sent to the resource indicated as the webhook, otherwise the information is kept in the bot’s message queue to be consumed via the “getUpdates” method.
Using the “getWebhookInfo” method we check the bot status and the possible presence of a webhook. In this case the webhook is not registered and therefore we must use the “getUpdates” method to download any messages present in the queue.
By calling the “getUpdates” method we see that there are no messages in the queue. If there were any, our call would have returned them to us by deleting them from the queue.
As mentioned, we have several ways to handle this situation. The first is to register a resource of our own as a webhook that will then receive the stolen information, allowing us to act promptly. For example, you could implement an alert system for the user to warn him that his credentials have been stolen and perhaps even deactivate his account and credit cards. As an alternative to registering your own webhook, you can implement a polling mechanism to download the stolen information, removing it from the criminal’s reach, and use it to mitigate the threat: as mentioned above, you can block the account, warn the user, and explain to them that they need to be careful.
Another approach is token deletion. I personally don’t like this approach because it prevents us from intercepting compromised accounts and therefore deprives us of the ability to act on users.
Today I found an email with an SVG attachment in my secondary email account. The account is Office 365 and the email was not in spam, this is not good, especially considering how much 365 costs! Anyway, back to the email, it was clearly suspicious also considering the attachment, an svg file with the name “Your-to-do-List.svg” supposedly sent to me by itself.
I immediately downloaded the file and opened it with Notepad++ (all this without the antivirus having anything to say about it…), inside there was a script that through a simple algorithm made a redirect to a phishing site with the aim of stealing the credentials of the same Office 365 account.
The target URL is: hxxps://bzzrr[.]yiunwox[.]es/!7ijf9v9ehpNFEKt/$
When I tried to forward the message to my Gmail account, Google’s mail server correctly returns an error 🙂
As always, avoid downloading and opening attachments if you are not sure of the source.
In the last few weeks I have noticed that attacks on Correios are constant. I have studied the matter a bit: it is the Brazilian state company that manages shipments and payments related to them.
The scam is always the same, attackers write to users saying that a shipment is blocked and that a small payment is needed to unblock it. What is interesting about this attack is that the user by entering the CPF (Cadastro de Pessoas FÃsicas) gets his data displayed on the page and this certainly appears to the user as something reliable.
The domain used for the attack is cpf-pendente[.]co[.]ua and it was registered few hours ago.
The first curiosity is that the archive is a RAR instead of a ZIP. Someone hoped to make life difficult for Matrix but I love writing code and this allows Matrix to open different types of archives, including obviously RAR 🙂
Aside from the type of archive, my curiosity about this kit was given by the functionality of extracting user data starting from the CPF. I do not know the Brazilian law but that from a simple number you can extract personal data seems unsafe to me.
The kit uses an external service to resolve the client data. This service I assume is part of the attack and probably uses another service in turn, perhaps legitimate or a leak from who knows where. This service is available at the domain anonimobusca[.]online. It was registered one week ago.
Domain Name: ANONIMOBUSCA.ONLINE Registry Domain ID: D544101018-CNIC Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.namecheap.com Registrar URL: https://namecheap.com Updated Date: 2025-04-15T13:27:33.0Z Creation Date: 2025-04-15T13:27:28.0Z Registry Expiry Date: 2026-04-15T23:59:59.0Z Registrar: Namecheap Registrar IANA ID: 1068 Domain Status: serverTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#serverTransferProhibited Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited Registrant Organization: Privacy service provided by Withheld for Privacy ehf Registrant State/Province: Capital Region Registrant Country: IS Registrant Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name. Admin Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name. Tech Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name. Name Server: DAPHNE.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM Name Server: IGNAT.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM DNSSEC: unsigned Billing Email: Please query the RDDS service of the Registrar of Record identified in this output for information on how to contact the Registrant, Admin, or Tech contact of the queried domain name. Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@namecheap.com Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.9854014545 URL of the ICANN Whois Inaccuracy Complaint Form: https://www.icann.org/wicf/ >>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2025-04-23T07:20:24.0Z <<<
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To obtain the user information, the phishing kit, uses a specific resource exposed by the second domain
Another aspect is related to how payments are collected. The kit does not in fact collect itself he payment data. The user makes the payment using systems that manage transactions. The services used to perform the transactions are:
Both services have been active for a short time, they use cheap providers for domain management and have free certificates. In short, I would say that nothing seems to give trust to these services.
For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://icann.org/epp
NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring registrar. Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.
TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone, or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation, repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure operational stability. VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and Registrars. Domain Name: paguesafe.com Registry Domain ID: 2805917900_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.rrpproxy.net Registrar URL: https://www.hostinger.com/contacts Updated Date: 2025-01-22T02:22:32Z Creation Date: 2023-08-14T19:17:29Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2025-08-14T19:17:29Z Registrar: Key-Systems GmbH Registrar IANA ID: 269 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abusereport@key-systems.net Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +49.68949396850 Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry Registrant Name: On behalf of paguesafe.com OWNER Registrant Organization: c/o whoisproxy.com Registrant Street: 604 Cameron Street Registrant City: Alexandria Registrant State/Province: VA Registrant Postal Code: 22314 Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone: +64.48319528 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: 20f3221829e93b3a03d0a4bba3bcdb0491e3ed52d42dd6bff0f8d15a0f6fc777@paguesafe.com.whoisproxy.org Registry Admin ID: Not Available From Registry Admin Name: On behalf of paguesafe.com ADMIN Admin Organization: c/o whoisproxy.com Admin Street: 604 Cameron Street Admin City: Alexandria Admin State/Province: VA Admin Postal Code: 22314 Admin Country: US Admin Phone: +64.48319528 Admin Phone Ext: Admin Fax: Admin Fax Ext: Admin Email: 20f3221829e93b3a03d0a4bba3bcdb0491e3ed52d42dd6bff0f8d15a0f6fc777@paguesafe.com.whoisproxy.org Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry Tech Name: On behalf of paguesafe.com TECH Tech Organization: c/o whoisproxy.com Tech Street: 604 Cameron Street Tech City: Alexandria Tech State/Province: VA Tech Postal Code: 22314 Tech Country: US Tech Phone: +64.48319528 Tech Phone Ext: Tech Fax: Tech Fax Ext: Tech Email: 20f3221829e93b3a03d0a4bba3bcdb0491e3ed52d42dd6bff0f8d15a0f6fc777@paguesafe.com.whoisproxy.org Registry Billing ID: Not Available From Registry Billing Name: On behalf of paguesafe.com BILLING Billing Organization: c/o whoisproxy.com Billing Street: 604 Cameron Street Billing City: Alexandria Billing State/Province: VA Billing Postal Code: 22314 Billing Country: US Billing Phone: +64.48319528 Billing Phone Ext: Billing Fax: Billing Fax Ext: Billing Email: 20f3221829e93b3a03d0a4bba3bcdb0491e3ed52d42dd6bff0f8d15a0f6fc777@paguesafe.com.whoisproxy.org Name Server: ns1.dns-parking.com Name Server: ns2.dns-parking.com DNSSEC: unsigned Whoisprivacy: 1 URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: https://wdprs.internic.net/ >>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2025-04-23T07:20:56Z <<<
For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://www.icann.org/epp
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NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring registrar. Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.
TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone, or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation, repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure operational stability. VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and Registrars. Domain Name: atlaspagamentos.com Registry Domain ID: 2936397696_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.godaddy.com Registrar URL: https://www.godaddy.com Updated Date: 2024-11-22T15:48:06Z Creation Date: 2024-11-22T15:48:06Z Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2025-11-22T15:48:06Z Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC Registrar IANA ID: 146 Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@godaddy.com Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4806242505 Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientRenewProhibited Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited Registry Registrant ID: Not Available From Registry Registrant Name: Registration Private Registrant Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com Registrant Street: 100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600 Registrant City: Tempe Registrant State/Province: Arizona Registrant Postal Code: 85281 Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone: +1.4806242599 Registrant Phone Ext: Registrant Fax: Registrant Fax Ext: Registrant Email: https://www.godaddy.com/whois/results.aspx?domain=atlaspagamentos.com&action=contactDomainOwner Registry Tech ID: Not Available From Registry Tech Name: Registration Private Tech Organization: Domains By Proxy, LLC Tech Street: DomainsByProxy.com Tech Street: 100 S. Mill Ave, Suite 1600 Tech City: Tempe Tech State/Province: Arizona Tech Postal Code: 85281 Tech Country: US Tech Phone: +1.4806242599 Tech Phone Ext: Tech Fax: Tech Fax Ext: Tech Email: https://www.godaddy.com/whois/results.aspx?domain=atlaspagamentos.com&action=contactDomainOwner Name Server: ARYA.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM Name Server: BRETT.NS.CLOUDFLARE.COM DNSSEC: unsigned URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/ >>> Last update of WHOIS database: 2025-04-23T07:22:01Z <<< For more information on Whois status codes, please visit https://icann.org/epp
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To this I would like to add that the two graphical interfaces are practically the same.
Looking at what ends up in the Matrix network I noticed a kit that targets Kraken customers.
As usual, the victim is frightened with an alleged compromise of their account.
The interesting aspect of this kit is that instead of asking the victim to enter their wallet details, the application suggests the victim to schedule a phone meeting. The user is asked to leave their phone number and is even provided with an .ics file with the appointment details, so that the victim remembers not to make other commitments 😀
The user data is sent to a Telegram bot as usual.
Looking for updates received from bots we find several messages waiting to be read by the fraudster. Since the domain where we found the kit does not yet have the kit online, it means that there are other sites with the kit already in operation.
Searching Elastic for domains with “kraken” in their names that are managed by the same DNS server (dnspod.com) brought up several other domains including kraken-centre.com which of course has the kit already online.
Free time is less and less, nevertheless I try to dedicate at least a couple of hours every week to the analysis of the Matrix evidence. I dedicate some time to the analysis of phishing kits and to the sharing of the email and Telegram token indicators on my public ioc repo: https://github.com/ecarlesi/ioc.git
From this analysis a spontaneous question arises: why do the same accounts continue to be active over time? Does no one notice that they are being used for illicit purposes?
The obvious answer might be that Telegram is based in Dubai, founded by a Russian, maybe preventing or mitigating fraud is not at the forefront of their minds. Maybe. Let’s say the same goes for Yandex, they are Russian. Maybe. What I don’t understand though is why they don’t block Gmail and Yahoo accounts either, just to name two non-Russian companies.
Let’s take the segdairo as gmail dot com account for example. I personally found it in 5 different attacks, the first one dating back to May 13, 2024.
Later I found it in other kits within which I identified other indicators:
hxxps://digitalbankingsonoraweb[.]online/verify/SONORA%20CU.zip contains the Telegram token 5453712056:AAE5M0Nnbcm0eanesMhIV62mNU_WgM20A6c
hxxps://dlgitaldove88system[.]online/FIRST%20FIFELITY%20BANK.zip contains the Telegram token 7223951606:AAHTkeSZ1UFauExPuwkzK_wfORFsldNFbnA
hxxps://digitalconnectfirstnow[.]online/FIRST%20UNITED%20BANK.zip contains the email account hakekelly07 at gmail dot com and the Telegram token 7103172103:AAFibon0scauwaJ6gnsY3vBfQ7e13IST9QY
hxxps://online-ctricbonline[.]cfd/cancel/login%20(1).zip contains the Telegram token 6318747656:AAFlcQchhlCb9DNkfpXvCEKXhSr0yINXgQc
hxxps://dashboardverfedconnect[.]online/VERMONT%20FCU.zip contains the Telegram token 7482950914:AAEupDhXYLKY_vvZHvwiCdgG_A2y4W5Jgn8
Not understanding why email accounts are blocked even when they are clearly involved in illicit activities, I tried to understand how to report a criminal email account. Searching on the internet I found some instructions from Google that talk about how to report an email received. However, I did not find how to report an email involved in illicit activities without having received any email from it in my Gmail account. I also found directions regarding Google Workspace accounts, which are very convenient, but this is not the case.
I finally found a link to the Internet Crime Complaint Center (ic3[.]gov). There is a form to report the event. It is now dinner time, given the length of the form, maybe I will do it after dinner.
Here I found something interesting: the Government explains how to recognize a legitimate Government domain, there is “.gov” and the padlock that indicates the use of https…
I would say not very well since every day there are thousands of new domains that meet these requirements 😀
At the end of a pretty busy day, I finally found a few minutes to check out the incoming notifications from Matrix. I noticed a kit that targets Kraken customers because their icon reminds me of the ghost from Pacman, and just today I got the vintage Pacman console 🙂
The domain used for the attack is krakeeen[.]top. It was registered three days ago and Matrix keep the monitoring active waiting for the kit. It arrives some hours ago. Thanks attacker 🙂
At the moment the only reports on this matter are those made by Matrix.
As usual, the kit is PHP based.
Every now and then someone tells me that my posts seem like I don’t love it! That’s not true, I really like PHP and often the code is badly written and therefore sucks.
I love PHP and its community!!!!!
As for the stolen credentials, the kit requires that they be sent to the email address hardeyholar47@gmail[.]com.
Of course I added it to the list that I hope you already know 🙂
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