There has been a significant increase in SMS-stealer malware samples detected in India. Threat actors abuse top banking brands in the country to lure bank users into installing malware.

An active scam campaign discovered by VMX Labs is built merely on credit card themes: new credit card applications, limit increases, and services like rewards point redemption, card block application, card protection cancellation, and separation of merged cards. It distributes specifically crafted malicious apps. These apps steal the one-time passwords (OTP) sent to the victim’s phone via SMS.

Either the app or phishing website aims to deceive victims into typing their personal information and credit card details in fake forms disguised as legitimate. Most likely, these forms are built into the app in case the phishing website is cloned from the original bank website’s resources. Otherwise, they are implemented on the phishing website.

To evade detection, phishing sites used in this campaign are redirected to legitimate bank websites unless accessed from a mobile phone.

Figure 1: Landing Pages of Phishing Websites
Figure 2: New Credit Card Application Scam

IOC List

Every phishing website in this campaign distributes a malicious app but they use the same app in several cases. We only included the unique SHA256 hashes in the indicator of compromise (IOC) list. That’s why the number of domains listed here is greater than the number of malicious apps.
Indicator Type
axisapply.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
axisapply.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
axis-apply-now.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
axis-apply-now.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
auapply.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
aunewapply.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-applynow-onboard.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-applynow-onboard.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-apply.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-apply-now.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-apply-onboard.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-now.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-now.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-now-apply.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-onboarding.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-onboarding.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-onboard-now.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
au-onboard-now.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
axisapply.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
axisapply.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
axis-apply-now.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
axis-apply-now.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
axis-services.in Dropper and C2 domain
indus.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
indus-service.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
indus-service.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
indus-fast.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
indus-fast.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
indus-apply.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
indus-service.in Dropper and C2 domain
rbl-limit-increase.creditcard-app.com Dropper and C2 domain
rbl-limit-increase.cards-application.com Dropper and C2 domain
8640b1565f6dd0147d4b9f219765d5a814eb3fa7c470f9baf49e330da71b9d76 SHA256 of the malicious app
d8b1f2c08c96935f61f3cddbfc723b982a961a38ab07e82272d375ab128f635d SHA256 of the malicious app
f2160b0cc1d49f7ea0aaf346c071811c19c139d129dd1b3d3f0f586074dffe03 SHA256 of the malicious app
7e26eddb09fd8975283140b9edf6aabc5590db5274ff2f1e4af366f3a9b97273 SHA256 of the malicious app
e154b0a0369355cc8b95ae1e8d8e7b20a6207b07ca12e6ae7c22a905472e5f28 SHA256 of the malicious app
d0ec8749720b38b006ab458b063ad9259f53cc8a3f65228a8a844b3a532f139d SHA256 of the malicious app
399bde41f7bbac87f4825ed211a5baf4ed6192ff18081a873b190fb0cb63b200 SHA256 of the malicious app
73e92645aaf080f568ca5de84d00ec70be888a00f5bf27492fe7ba53900e126f SHA256 of the malicious app
1c6c7b4ff88b6cf462c2a9c1bb6dc50611bccf5593b4499fdb3405677525b8e0 SHA256 of the malicious app
9f2def6b0f95f820499f9a5a43ff5a9d5522e4a6d5e7d0a719dcfb916947721a SHA256 of the malicious app
cc285c24651c224700a1f00b28e6d2856e701f26f99ef5baabc1d04be2c38d95 SHA256 of the malicious app
19deabf1c52e8f907dc3eb098a3dbfa5a8db143363c1bee52b8efe5974543c36 SHA256 of the malicious app
a8ae565373f63a41b3770231d4119bb697de969b4cdfab7fa1d58196066e3d36 SHA256 of the malicious app
58f0052f045ce52be336bb119fff56a5445010fb45de6ed47253c8579abe52d5 SHA256 of the malicious app
8c1c962811154cf5ae7cd7c9d763c41c036652158d87bb3992661a31d1fbb1c8 SHA256 of the malicious app
4069cc81e22576f46bcd1f8dc95b254bfd6f51d9bef67936eb44a5c8af8aa358 SHA256 of the malicious app
2bae0588f5c5e427190cab5155dd00a78d348f9e6aea7926298a48d219e20cea SHA256 of the malicious app
b70b8cc26b2c04379381067d7417879f49f118a17a7448b208d5d78a7e56f7b7 SHA256 of the malicious app
32b974f52e907998d6dbfba793966b531f880d8ebc27ffc18f47a2b7a099a097 SHA256 of the malicious app