The Kopeechka service, which refers to “penny” in Russian, is a new tool criminals use to quickly and easily generate hundreds of fake social media accounts.
The service, operational since the start of 2019, offers simple account registration services for several well-known social media networks, such as Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, and X (previously Twitter). Specifically, Kopeechka allowed access to minors’ chat site registrations.
How Kopeechka Works?
According to Trend Micro report, Kopeechka gives users access to emails received from social networking networks but not to email inboxes. The mailbox account is still in Kopeechka’s control and not that of any third-party users due to the way the service has been built.
Kopeechka displays the number of valid emails it presently has on hand. Researchers say most are Microsoft-related inboxes, Hotmail and Outlook in particular.
Kopeechka was also purchasing email accounts, and the service offered several email addresses hosted on 39 domains that it owned.
While the API facilitates the creation of several social media accounts automatically, its web interface makes it simple for users to create them using purchased email addresses.
“All these processes can be fully automated, which could allow cybercriminals to create potentially hundreds of accounts or more in just a few seconds, as long as they have enough money in their Kopeechka account,” researchers said.
Kopeechka provides access to 16 distinct online SMS services, the majority of which are Russian-based, to validate users’ phone numbers during account registration.
By keeping consumers informed about any changes to the service, such as bug alerts and networking issues, Kopeechka cultivates a sense of loyalty among its users. Kopeechka offers its clients advice, comprehensive courses, and even payment.
If consumers are not proficient in using the API and would like to automate the account registration procedure, Kopeechka recommends using ZennoPoster, a third-party Russian service. ZennoPoster may be used by Kopeechka users as an automated registration mechanism.
Also, at the moment, Kopeechka has 440 users on its English Telegram channel and over 1,000 users on its Russian Telegram channel.
Final Words
“Kopeechka’s services can facilitate an easy and affordable way to mass-create accounts online, which could be helpful to cybercriminals,” researchers said.
The only way to address the Kopeechka issue is for email service providers to join together and work together to improve their registration procedures. Artificial intelligence may be able to help with this endeavor by offering tools for identifying automated account registrations.
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