OLVX has emerged as a new cybercrime marketplace, quickly gaining a loyal following of customers seeking through the marketplace tools used to conduct online fraud and cyberattacks on other websites.
The launch of the OLVX marketplace follows along with a recent trend in cybercrime marketplaces being increasingly hosted on the clearnet instead of the dark web, which allows for wide distribution of users to access them and for them to be promoted through search engine optimization (SEO).
Research conducted by Zerofox cybersecurity researchers discovered that there is a new underground market called OLVX (olvx[.]cc) that was advertising a wide variety of hacking tools for illicit purposes and was linked to a large number of hacking tools and websites.
Researchers at ZeroFox, who detected OLVX at the end of July 2023, have noted a marked increase in activity on the new marketplace in the fall, noticing that both buyers and sellers are increasing their activity on the marketplace.
There have been several illicit tools and services offered to threat actors by OLVX since its launch on July 1, 2023. As opposed to the other markets that OLVX operates in, it focuses on providing cyber criminals with tools that they can take advantage of during the 2023 holiday peak season in retail.
ZeroFox found that OLVX marketplace activity spiked significantly in fall 2023 due to more items selling on the marketplace, and buyers rushing to the new store to purchase those items. OLVX is estimated to be the result of leaked OLUX code from 2020/2021, according to an investigation.
Post-leak stores use improved versions of OLUX code, even though the old OLUX code is outdated. For better accessibility and better web hosting, OLVX hides the contents of its website on Cloudflare.
For customer growth, OLVX does not make use of the dark web; instead, it relies on SEO and forums to grow customers.
For customer support, OLVX runs a Telegram channel to provide support. The company's reputation and earnings are boosted by strong relationships with its customers.
Unlike most other markets of this nature, OLVX does not rely on an escrow service to ensure funds are protected.
Instead, it offers a "deposit to direct payment" system which supports Bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum, Litecoin, TRON, Bitcoin Cash, Binance Coin, and Perfect Money as cryptocurrencies.
By doing this, users are encouraged to spend more, because funds are always available, so browsing leads to more frequent purchases for the user.
To maintain privacy and security, customers who are running low on funds are advised to use time-limited anonymous cryptocurrency addresses to "top-off" their accounts, in order to maintain funds.
During the holiday season, OLVX and similar marketplaces thrive as cybercriminal hubs, supplying tools for targeting campaigns to cybercriminals during the colder months.
On the site, OLVX offers hosting via Cloudflare and advertises DDoS protection through Simple Carrier LLC, which is a substandard hosting provider.
Consumers are increasingly putting their security at risk as they shop.
OLVX is one of the leading tools that criminals use during the holiday season for illicit activities, making this the time of year when criminals run their heists.
Due to the unique nature of the platform, an independent verification team can not verify that the above quality and validity claims are accurate, however, users believe that OLVX's rising popularity and established reputation lend credibility to the majority of the claims.
Interestingly, Zerofox indicates that fraudulent activity on the platform starts to increase as users get closer to the holiday shopping season, which means that buyers should maintain heightened vigilance so as to avoid scams and identify fraud.