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Various other World Cup scams
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Other ways that 'internet gangsters' will use the South African World Cup to part you from your hard-earned cash.
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• Premium telephone number scam
Some readers report receiving 'winning'
text messages in which they are asked
to contact premium rate telephone
numbers in the UK.
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• World Cup party invitation scam
For an advance payment of 1,100USD
into a Scandanavian bank, the writer
of the email - "Chris Vibe," promises
World Cup visitors a plane ride and a
ticket to the party of all parties!
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• World Cup job opportunity scam
Another email offers the recipient the
chance of a temporary job at the World
Cup, requesting personal and bank
account details and asking that the
recipient deposit money into a bank
account to cover part payment of a
uniform.
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• World Cup malware infection
In targeted attacks, email's have been
sent to high level World Cup and
inter-governmental officials. Various
reasons are offered to urge the
recipient to download a file attachment
and if they do, it opens a back door to
their computer system.
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Never click on a link or, download or, open attachments in an email from an unknown source and never give out your personal or, bank account details
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Don't fall for the lottery email scam
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... two million, one hundred thousand US Dollars. The email goes on to inform the reader that their 'winnings' are being held by the bank and requests that they contact a representative to arrange for the bank to release their prize money. It's practically common knowledge that a fee payment is required to get the non-existent 'winnings' released from the bank. The 'winner' pays their fee and then waits for the transfer of the monies ;-)
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Requests for personal information
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Other emails inform the recipient that they have won a prize and request that they complete and return forms with personal details and information - don't do it!
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419-type emails already identified
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Many different spam-email lottery scams have already been identified by Trend Micro as originating from known IP addresses in Nigeria, but as yet, there haven't been any emails from botnet networks of compromised computers, but there's still time! Fifa lottery, prize draw and various competition scams are included in the emails that have been identified, with bogus or, non-existent tickets being offered to entice you to part with your 'hard-earned cash' as well as large cash prizes for answering simple questions.
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Leading on-line security firm Symantec has set up a web site (www.2010netthreat.com) dedicated to reporting World Cup-themed threats. Under the banner "2010 is the year for crimes against football fans on the Internet" they say - "Here on the 2010 Net Threat site you will get the latest in scams, spam, phishing and malicious code." The web site is nicely set out and informative - football fans should take a look.
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Customer's of a certain South African based bank have received phishing emails that include a link to a form requesting the recipient's account details. It is claimed that this is in order to make a small withdrawal from their account which will be credited back immediately, along with a substantial reward for their customer loyalty - all in the name of the World Cup. The bank concerned has had to resort to issuing warnings to their customers.
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