Africa is currently seeing a spur of phishing attacks, and with South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup this year, cyber criminals in that region are getting even busier.
“Major sporting events provide a perfect cover behind which cyber criminals can launch sophisticated attacks on individuals, companies and governments,” said researchers from Symantec. “These range from simple identity theft to full-blown denial of service attacks.”
Symantec recently reported that World Cup-related scams have included a 419-type of email that claims the recipient has won $1,950 million in a weekly lottery. Another targeted email attack enticed users to open an infected PDF attachment, and other unsuspected users had their computers infected by a Trojan when they tried to take advantage of a bogus offer of VIP passes to the World Cup.
As a result of increased cybercrime activities in South Africa before the soccer finals, Symantec has launched a special website with information on related attacks and how to buy genuine World Cup tickets.
So far, more than 100 sites selling fraudulent tickets have been shut down by FIFA and South African authorities in an effort to stop fake World Cup tickets from being purchased by unsuspecting victims, according to TechWorld.
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