Mexico-Based Threat Actor Targets Global Bank Users With Android Trojan

New security report published by SentinelOne revealed a Mexico-based eCrime threat actor that has been linked to a series of attacks targeting major banks around the world. With a focus on Spanish and Chilean financial institutions, the campaign spanned nearly two years, from June 2021 to April 2023.

Some of their notable targets include Santander, BBVA, Deutsche Bank, ING, and CaxiBank.

The report by security researcher Pol Thill was published by SentinelOne following the first Malware Research Challenge which was done in partnership with vx-underground. According to Thill, the threat actor behind the campaign is codenamed Neo_Net and is known to use unsophisticated tools.

The Spanish speaking threat actors have become quite prominent since their discovery in early 2021. In addition to deploying cybercrime campaigns, the actor is known to engage in the sale of victims’ data on its Ankarex channel as well as advertise its Android malware, ‘’ Ankarex Smishing-as-a-Service platform’’ to select members.

In the current campaign, by using Neo_Net’s proprietary service, Ankarex, the threat actors initially employ SMS phishing tactics and deceive the victims into sharing sensitive information and credentials. The carefully crafted messages that seem to be authentic important communication from banks also contain hyperlinks to bogus landing pages. These pages help the actors exfiltrate the victims’ banking credentials, including their IP addresses and user agents.

Despite the use of basic hacking tools, the threat actors have witnessed remarkable success. Over the said period, they’ve stolen more than €350,000 from targeted bank accounts and compromised personal information of thousands of victims. The stolen information includes phone numbers, names, and national identity numbers.

‘’The success of their campaigns can be attributed to the highly targeted nature of their operations, often focusing on a single bank, and copying their communications to impersonate bank agents,’’ noted Thill.