A global cybersecurity firm warned Tokyo Olympic 2020 fans of the top five phishing schemes that cybercriminals are using to maliciously steal their credentials online amid the Games.
The Olympic Games are currently being held without in-person spectators which leave fans looking for other ways to watch their representatives in the prestigious sporting events.
According to Kaspersky, scammers are attempting to monetize viewers’ interest by initiating phishing websites that appear Olympics-related.
The company said it discovered the presence of fake pages offering to stream various Olympic events, selling tickets for competitions that won’t have spectators, various giveaways and fake Olympic Games virtual currency.
Online live streams, for instance, are popular with those who do not have access to cable television or networks that broadcast the Games.
The company said that some phishing pages masquerading as streaming pages ask people to register before watching:
“Usually in such phishing pages, once a user enters their credentials, they might be redirected to a page that distributes different malicious files. Besides having malware installed on their device through such files, users sent their identifying information to untrustworthy hands. After that, scammers may start using such data for bad purposes or sell it on the Dark Web.”
There are also web pages that sell offline event tickets even though the Games are physically spectator-free.
Others market themselves as official sites for the Tokyo Olympics and the International Olympic Committee but in truth, collect “users’ MS Services credentials,” according to the company.
There are also fake giveaways that offer items such as television where the fan can watch the Games. In reality, “each user becomes a lucky winner; the chosen ones only need to pay a delivery fee.”
The item, however, does not get delivered to the user.
The company likewise warned the public of the presence of Olympic Games Token.
“Kaspersky researchers found the first-ever virtual currency, which is a support fund for Olympic athletes. A fake one. If a user buys the token, the scammers offer to support financially talented sportsmen around the world who are in need,” it reported.
How can fans avoid such online scams? The company recommended the following actions:
- They must check the website link before clicking. Users can hover over it to preview the URL and then look for misspellings or other irregularities.
- Check the authenticity of the websites before they enter personal data. Users are also encouraged to double-check the URL formats and company name spellings.
- They can also use a reliable security solution that identifies malicious attachments and blocks phishing sites for them.
The Tokyo Olympics 2020 will run until August 8.
This is the link to its official website.
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