Global cybersecurity firm Kaspersky has released a list of the top five scams related to the ongoing FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
The World Cup gets the attention of millions of football fans from all over the world. Taking advantage of this critical period of time, scammers use different techniques to monetize soccer fans’ interest.
In a recent blog post, Kaspersky shared the top five scams capitalizing on the World Cup Qatar 2022 after its experts analyzed World Cup-related phishing websites from around the globe designed to steal users’ identifying and banking data.
In the first place, since the match tickets for this year’s event are only available digitally, scammers have increasingly capitalized on creating fraudulent websites to offer fake tickets.
“Kaspersky experts discovered numerous phishing pages purporting to sell tickets for FIFA matches. Needless to say, users of these sites will lose personal data, banking details, and money,” the report said.
The second most prevalent form of scam is fake gifts. Kaspersky said that its researchers found phishing pages offering a chance to win two tickets to the World Cup. “Often, each user becomes a “lucky” winner, only needing to pay a delivery fee.”
The third form of scam is stealing user data via fake FIFA-related merchandise stores. Scammers might be able to trick users into sharing their data or transferring money by offering team T-shirts, phone cases with popular players, and signed soccer balls.
The fourth category of World Cup-related scams is crypto and NFT fraud. “A distinctive feature of the threat landscape on the eve of the 2022 World Cup has been the active spread of various crypto scams, mostly exploiting the popularity of NFTs.” Kaspersky said.
These scams could ask users to make a bet on a match and win cryptocurrency or NFTs. They will ask users to enter crypto wallet credentials so the prize transfers directly. However, scammers will drain user wallets and all savings once they get the wallet credentials.
“Another scheme is crypto investment fraud. Fraudsters actively create real coins and convince a user to invest in it while promising the victim potential currency growth. In reality, these are almost never a success and users have spent money on something that will never develop,” the post said.
Eventually, users need to be aware of fake flights and accommodations. Kaspersky experts warned that phishing pages imitating airline services offering tickets to Doha might try to trick users into entering their credit information.
Nevertheless, users are best advised to check a link before clicking and avoid using new, unreliable companies.
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