Faces behind a thousand masks

March 12, 2025 · 3 min read

Understanding the mind behind online fraud is the first step in effective protection. In many cases, these attackers operate as organized criminal groups with diverse skill sets across business operations, cross-border financial crimes, and sophisticated cyber tactics.

Most fraudsters are hackers (in the negative sense of this word) or individuals with deep technical knowledge. At tirreno, we have seen that the same organized group can perform multiple types of attacks: they might launch a malware campaign against a business, then use the compromised accounts for phishing attacks or to harvest sensitive data, scamming other victims. Same groups can also impersonate your applications and launch phishing attacks against your customers and partners.

What’s especially concerning is that these attack patterns have remained consistent for decades. This suggests that these groups are adaptable enough to remain under the radar, allowing them to carry out fraud for long periods without disruption.

Only proactive threat hunting and constant monitoring can help detect and stop online fraudsters before they exploit your organization’s resources.