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US
The FBI has warned that scams involving cryptocurrency kiosks, which work like ATMs for buying and sending digital currency, are rising sharply across the US.
According to the FBI’ s Internet Crime Complaint Center( IC3), more than 13,400 complaints were reported in 2025, with losses exceeding US $ 388 million. This represents a 23 % rise in complaints and a 58 % increase in financial losses compared with 2024. People aged over 50 accounted for more than half of the reported losses.
Scammers often contact victims through phone calls, social media, email or messaging apps. They then provide step-by-step instructions on withdrawing cash, locating a cryptocurrency kiosk and transferring money. Criminals may pretend to represent government agencies, banks, utility companies or even someone the victim knows.
The FBI advises people never to send cryptocurrency to strangers, avoid scanning unknown QR codes and be cautious of anyone demanding payment through cryptocurrency kiosks. Victims should also keep all receipts and transaction records.
US
Microsoft has announced legal action against a cybercrime operation known as Fox Tempest, which allegedly helped cybercriminals disguise malware as legitimate software.
According to Microsoft, the Malware-Signing-as-a-Service( MSaaS) platform abused code-signing tools, including Microsoft’ s Artifact Signing system, which is designed to verify that software is authentic and untampered. The company claims the service enabled attackers to distribute malware, ransomware and other malicious software that infected thousands of devices and compromised networks globally.
As part of the action filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Microsoft said it seized the Fox Tempest website, took hundreds of virtual machines offline and blocked access to infrastructure hosting the operation’ s code.
Microsoft also linked the service to Vanilla Tempest, a ransomware group accused of deploying malware including Oyster, Lumma Stealer and Vidar, alongside ransomware such as Rhysida. The group has reportedly targeted schools, hospitals and critical organisations worldwide.
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