Cricket Enthusiasts Targeted by Fake World Cup Ticket Scam

Security researchers at Symantec threatened cricket lovers on the circulation of malware in the Internet in the form of fake ticket during the upcoming International Cricket Council (ICC) Cricket World Cup due on February 19, 2011.

Remarkably, the Cricket World Cup leads as the world's fourth most viewed sport event followed by the FIFA World Cup, the Summer Olympic Games, and the Rugby World Cup.

By the latest spam email campaign, cricket fans are offered with an exclusive "Cricket World Cup Corporate Hospitality Package" during the final match ought to be held in Mumbai, asserted Symantec.

The offerings of the hospitality package includes a private table for ten people, giant screen coverage, open bar, corporate signage, post match buffet, celebrity guest speaker, and more.

Samir Patil, Security Researcher at Symantec expects to explore more advanced spam and phishing cyber attacks targeting the advent of World Cup. The malign spam attacks are expected to contain attachments with the intention of distributing malware through fake video files. These video files ought to contain match highlights, reports softpedia on February 9, 2011.

In his statement, Patil held that although World Cup tickets are highly in demand, they should only be supplied from authenticated source, reports Symantec, on February 7, 2011.

Netizens are therefore pre-cautioned from opening attachments or emails from illegitimate or unauthorized sources.

In addition, Patil claimed that websites distributing tickets and inquiring about financial or personal information should be approved with SSL certificate and contain visible trust marks as verification of authenticity. The aforementioned offers only tempt users to join and associate themselves with the spirit of 2011 World Cup games, though ultimately spammers turns victorious.

Conclusively, the circulation of malware taking advantage of a sporting event is not the first of its kind. Symantec has already reported to have spotted two 419-style scams during the first week of February 2011. One of the scam held claims of the recipient winning a lottery for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and the other with the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

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» SPAMfighter News - 2/17/2011