Kaspersky says that Scammers Attack the World Cup Soccer 2014

Security firm Kaspersky reveals that the World Cup Soccer 2014 is nearing as it is scheduled to kick-off on 12th June, 2014 at Brazil and so online scammers have started improving their skills before this global event.

Security company Kaspersky Lab said that online fraudsters have been creating fake websites imitating genuine domains of World Cup, its sponsors and partners including popular brands and trying to trick users in disclosing their personal data like usernames, passwords and credit card numbers.

Phishing is one of the most popular forms of attack.

Criminals generally send phishing emails with a link purporting to be from genuine source such as an insurance company or financial institution and retail chain expecting recipients to click on that link which takes them to a fake website.

News24.com published news on 26th May, 2014 quoting Fabio Assolini, Senior Researcher of Kaspersky, as saying: "We detect 50-60 highly sophisticated and skillfully designed new phishing domains every day in Brazil alone and it is not easy at all for an ordinary user to distinguish a fake domain from a genuine one".

Kaspersky detected one more attack which used database breach of customers.

Scammers gather full name, birthdays and address of users from some unknown database and then send personalized emails with these details informing them that they have won a ticket for the World Cup Soccer. The emails contain a PDF file as a winning ticket but actually it is a Trojan banker.

Unfortunately Brazilian cybercriminals are not the only ones exploiting the World Cup Soccer but other cybercriminals are also exploiting this global event.

Actually, World Cup-themed attacks have been happening for almost a year now luring users quite consistently over the period as Assolini observed some similar phishing attacks on Brazilian soccer fans way back in March 2013.

An article published on 3rd February, 2014 quoting Assolini as "conmen attack through massive phishing mailings offering cash prizes, trips and free tickets for games with stars of the national team 'signed up' to add false credibility".

Users are thus advised to be on the lookout of such Soccer-themed scam emails, Kaspersky concludes.

» SPAMfighter News - 6/3/2014