New automated social media account creation tool gains traction in cybercrime

More threat actors have been utilizing the Russian automated account creation tool Kopeechka to facilitate cybersecurity scams and fraud, according to The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Kopeechka, which enables accelerated mass creation of fake social media accounts while evading email and phone verification processes, has been leveraged in a widespread cryptocurrency scam campaign in Mastodon, as well as malicious campaigns in Facebook, X, Telegram, Discord, and Roblox, a report from Trend Micro showed. Aside from being given access to emails from various social media platforms, attackers using the service have also been provided access to various mostly Russia-based online SMS services to create hundreds of fraudulent accounts within seconds. "We believe that the long-established reputation of Kopeechka plays a role in its popularity with cybercriminals: Malicious actors appear to believe that a product or service is more reliable because of it," said Trend Micro researchers.