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UK Cybercrime Journal: Argos Account Takeover Fraud

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What Happened On 3 June 2026, the City of London Police issued a warning stating Report Fraud has seen a significant increase in cases mentioning the retailer, reflecting how criminals are targeting well-known brands. Report Fraud, which is run by the City of London Police, warned that cybercriminals are using leaked credentials from historical data breaches to hijack Argos user accounts. Once on the account, the fraudsters order and then collect the goods in-person at a physical store. In some instances, the goods are paid for using payment details not connected to the victim of the compromised account. Notably, the goods from fraudulent orders are often claimed via Click & Collect option that Argos allows, enabling the threat actors to retrieve goods in store. In May, Report Fraud received 652 reports which mention Argos, a 323% increase compared to April, when 154 reports mentioning the retailer were made. Since the start of 2026, there have been 1,175 reports mentioning th...

Analysis of the threats targeting Point of Sale systems

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  Background A point of sale (POS) system refers to the critical piece of software used by customers to execute a payment for goods or a service. This also includes the physical devices in stores, where POS terminals and systems are used to process card payments. These are often the primary targets of financially motivated organised cybercrime groups (also known as eCrime advanced persistent threats). Successful intrusion of a POS system can lead to the theft of vast amounts of financial data from customers. This can be used for immediate gain or sold on underground markets for fraud. A combination of hard-to-detect data-exfiltration malware; legacy hardware - which is difficult to patch; and general OS vulnerabilities, mean that this particular threat is common and can be difficult to defend against. Organised Cybercrime APT groups such as FIN6, FIN7, and FIN8 are currently some of the most significant threats to large retailers, restaurant chains, hotels, the leisure industry, an...