Cyber Criminals Aim at Commonwealth Games Fans

Post FIFA 2010 when a large number of soccer enthusiasts were made victims of enticing SMSes and spam mails, online crooks presently appear to be aiming at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010 scheduled to commence at India's capital, New Delhi, by dispatching spurious SMSes and spam mails.

According to security researchers, with about 3 months left for the games to begin, online crooks have perceived a scope to attack unwary fans.

An ongoing examination of one spam mail shows a catchy header: "Delhi 2010 XIX Commonwealth Games.'

In this e-mail, the sender claims that it is an e-mail notice for the recipient. The notification states that an online lottery draw of e-mail addresses under the Delhi 2010 XIX CWG held on July 28, 2010 in London (UK). In the draw, the recipient has won 715,000 GBP in cash.

As per cyber crime specialists, the spam mails and SMSes, circulating in connection with the Commonwealth Games and even contain logo, are false dispatched with the intention to target unwary Internet-users.

Commenting on these spam messages, a Cyber-Crimes Expert based in Delhi, named Vivek Vohra, stated that at the time of all gigantic incidents, e-mails of the kind were distributed taking advantage of people's inquisitiveness that led them to get deceived, as reported by Mid-day on July 13, 2010.

In order to save unsuspecting netizens from scams that perpetrators of spurious SMSes and e-mails execute, security researchers suggest some tips. First, they should erase the messages received without opening them. Second, if an end-user has been victimized by the scam, he should contact the concerned officials like the local police without delay, and lodge a complaint.

Moreover, the researchers advise netizens to talk to the person over phone (in case a number is provided), who claims that the SMS or e-mail recipient is a winner of a prize, and find out if the message is truly correct or otherwise.

Finally, netizens should forward all the suspicious SMSes and e-mails to the related officials. This facilitates in catching those responsible for such frauds.

Related article: Cyber Child abuser Sentenced To Imprisonment

» SPAMfighter News - 7/23/2010