A surge in shipping-related phishing scams is targeting the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, according to researchers at Group-IB.
“To deliver the scam, the attacker sends a phishing link to victims via SMS using various spoofing or bulk-message techniques,” the researchers write. “These links are typically optimized for mobile devices, since most victims open SMS messages on their phones. Phishing pages often behave differently depending on the user agent, showing their full content only when accessed from a mobile browser.
“In many cases, the attacker adds a mask or endpoint at the end of the URL, such as index.html, eg, i, org, or similar, to force the page to load correctly and display the phishing content.”
The attackers are likely using the Darcula phishing-as-a-service platform, which allows them to launch region-specific phishing attacks at scale.
“This scheme is made more convincing through localized targeting, where the threat actor would try mimicking the names of specific client organizations commonly used by the general public,” Group-IB says. “For example, they would deploy a URL like meapostal[.]click/index.html targeting a Middle East/Africa region entity.”
Users and organizations should follow security best practices to avoid falling for these attacks.
“As these fraudulent messages continue to circulate globally, understanding how they work is the first step in protection,” the researchers write.
“For individuals, the core defense remains constant: never click unsolicited tracking links. Always verify a delivery status by navigating to the official courier website manually, following only official links from e-commerce platforms used and known tracking numbers from your real purchases and invoices. For businesses, a proactive defense including public education, robust domain security, and providing verification tools is essential to build trust and protect customers from pervasive social engineering threats.”
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Group-IB has the story.
