More than a group of anonymous hackers, VexTrio is a sophisticated merger of Italian and Eastern European criminal factions that control nearly 100 companies across the adtech, energy and construction industries, using them to orchestrate a global ad-fraud scheme worth billions.

VexTrio operates an end-to-end scam supply chain, controlling everything from the development of fraudulent apps to the payment processors that collect the profits. Several adtech companies – Los Pollos, TacoLoco and Adtrafico – pose as legitimate affiliate marketing networks. These entities serve as the public face for a criminal operation that leverages compromised websites, malicious spam and fraudulent social media campaigns to funnel millions of victims into scams.

"For years, we thought that VexTrio was just a group of basement hackers,” said Dr. Renée Burton, Vice President of Infoblox Threat Intel. “This investigation proves that behind the malicious links is a highly organised, multinational corporate entity that has been profiting from fraud on a massive scale. They have built an entire adtech industry to conceal their crimes in plain sight.”

Key Findings

• Massive Scale and Reach: In 2024, VexTrio’s affiliate network Los Pollos claimed over 2 billion unique monthly users, and GoDaddy found that nearly 40 per cent of compromised websites it observed were redirecting traffic to VexTrio. One of the group's core Content Delivery Network (CDN) domains ranks in the top 10,000 most popular domains globally.
• End-to-End Criminal Control: VexTrio develops its own fraudulent products, from fake dating sites to e-commerce and crypto investment platforms. It runs its own payment processors and operates email validation services to support massive spam campaigns.
• Highly Profitable Scams: The group’s network offers affiliates over $100 per lead for fraudulent antivirus products and promoted "blank credit card" scams with promises of six-figure paydays and up to 300 per cent ROI.
• Sophisticated and Resilient Infrastructure: The entire global operation runs on a lean infrastructure of fewer than 250 virtual machines, utilising advanced automation tools, multiple hosting providers and legitimate CDN (Content Delivery Network) services to evade detection and ensure resiliency.
• Corporate Web of Deceit: VexTrio hides behind shell companies that pose as legitimate adtech firms, operating several brands under the guise of affiliate marketing, while simultaneously being responsible for many types of fraud.

The report highlights the role of adtech platforms in facilitating large-scale cybercrime and underscores the need for stronger accountability measures. The findings reveal how VexTrio’s use of networks such as Los Pollos, TacoLoco and Adtrafico not only provides reach but also creates a potential point of exposure – as these platforms vet and track affiliates, they hold valuable intelligence to help identify the actors responsible for compromising countless websites and defrauding millions of users worldwide.    

Read the latest reports from a deep dive into the origin and extensiveness of VexTrio Viper here.