With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, it comes as no surprise that Egress’ Threat Intelligence team is starting to see an uptick in romance-based phishing attacks. In particular, they noted a staggering 43% increase in attacks impersonating well-established dating apps including Tinder and Hinge between January 1, 2024, until February 5, 2024, compared to 2023. This is only likely to increase as the day draws closer.

Since January 13th, 2024, our Threat Intelligence team has seen a steep rise in the number of fraudulent payment attacks using Venmo. By hacking existing or setting up new Venmo accounts, cybercriminals are using legitimate Venmo communications to trick users into approving fraudulent payments.