In a bold new venture that would make even the most audacious street magician blush, cybercriminals from the infamous GoldFactory group have launched an innovative new campaign to bamboozle Southeast Asian mobile users. Forget pulling a rabbit out of a hat; these digital tricksters are pulling malware out of your bank account!

The operation, affectionately dubbed ‘Operation Get Rich Quick or Die Trying,’ has seen hackers don their finest virtual disguises to impersonate government services. That’s right, ‘government services’—two words that inherently inspire both dread and blind trust among the masses. If only GoldFactory would apply their genius to wearing fake mustaches and monocles, maybe we’d all have a good laugh.

Since October 2024, they’ve been rolling out the red carpet for malware by tweaking banking apps to act like Trojan horses. Because why stop at just letting your apps handle your money, when they can also handle handing it over to cybercriminals? Rumor has it that they’re now considering a line of ‘official’ government merchandise, including T-shirts that read, ‘I was scammed by GoldFactory and all I got was this lousy malware.’

Authorities in Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam are reportedly scratching their heads, wondering if it would be easier just to outsource cybersecurity to GoldFactory. After all, who better to secure the digital vault than the ones who cracked it open? Meanwhile, Group-IB, the investigators of this caper, are no doubt reconsidering their career choices, possibly eying positions in digital locksmithing or clairvoyance.

But until then, the fight continues as cybersecurity professionals worldwide prepare to counteract these cyber Robin Hoods. Or perhaps they’re just modern-day pirates, hoisting the Jolly Roger over our digital seas and sailing away with our data booty. Only time will tell if GoldFactory will go the way of Blackbeard—or if they’ll just become the new face of ‘government-approved’ digital chaos.