Group-IB,is a Moscow based international company specializing in prevention and investigation of IT-crimes,have spotted a scamming attack that uses brand names of the largest international companies including Emirates, Lufthansa, El Al Israel Airlines, SPAR, Virgin America, Delta Air Lines, Air France, Aeroflot.
According to Group-IB's Threat Intelligence, the cyber criminals registered 95 fake websites, using names of 19 well-known brands. The scammers are especially targeting Airlines' brands, as vacation season begin in May and June. Other targeted brands include manufacturers of luxury brands, such as Rolex.
According to the report, the attackers started registering the fake websites at the end of March 2017. Facebook was used for spreading the scam. The attacks appear to be targeting US Customers, as most of the targeted brands are based out of USA. Group-IB warned customers about the threat and quickly started to close the phishing websites.
One of the Facebook scam post says "#Emirates (as an option - Virgin America, Lufthansa, Aeroflot) gives 2 tickets" - This post became popular in the last few days. Scammers(as well as marketers) use gifts, practical jokes and special promotions to get attention. The success of the attack will be achieved, if friends of the victim share this post in social networks.
The fake website asks the visitor to answer a few simple questions. For example, "Do you really want to get 2 free tickets from Emirates?" and "Are you already 18 years old?". This technique is called "Gypsy hypnosis" — Put a person into altered state of consciousness and achieve results before the person knows what's happening. The site then asks for name, email, phone number, date of birth and other details.
Once the victim give details, the site will display "Congratulations, you won two tickets!" and asks you to "like" the page and "share" the post among yours friends in social network to receive the tickets. Thus you unwittingly involved your friends in a fraudulent scheme.
Experts of the investigation Department of Group-IB found that this scheme was used to increase traffic of clients sites of the American company, which provides promotion and monetization of Internet and mobile applications services to users. 28-year-old resident of Islamabad used this scheme. In 2013 he planned to run his advertising network, but he failed. After that he decided to campaign for generating traffic for the advertising platform with help of fake hoax.
- Christina
According to Group-IB's Threat Intelligence, the cyber criminals registered 95 fake websites, using names of 19 well-known brands. The scammers are especially targeting Airlines' brands, as vacation season begin in May and June. Other targeted brands include manufacturers of luxury brands, such as Rolex.
According to the report, the attackers started registering the fake websites at the end of March 2017. Facebook was used for spreading the scam. The attacks appear to be targeting US Customers, as most of the targeted brands are based out of USA. Group-IB warned customers about the threat and quickly started to close the phishing websites.
One of the Facebook scam post says "#Emirates (as an option - Virgin America, Lufthansa, Aeroflot) gives 2 tickets" - This post became popular in the last few days. Scammers(as well as marketers) use gifts, practical jokes and special promotions to get attention. The success of the attack will be achieved, if friends of the victim share this post in social networks.
The fake website asks the visitor to answer a few simple questions. For example, "Do you really want to get 2 free tickets from Emirates?" and "Are you already 18 years old?". This technique is called "Gypsy hypnosis" — Put a person into altered state of consciousness and achieve results before the person knows what's happening. The site then asks for name, email, phone number, date of birth and other details.
Once the victim give details, the site will display "Congratulations, you won two tickets!" and asks you to "like" the page and "share" the post among yours friends in social network to receive the tickets. Thus you unwittingly involved your friends in a fraudulent scheme.
Experts of the investigation Department of Group-IB found that this scheme was used to increase traffic of clients sites of the American company, which provides promotion and monetization of Internet and mobile applications services to users. 28-year-old resident of Islamabad used this scheme. In 2013 he planned to run his advertising network, but he failed. After that he decided to campaign for generating traffic for the advertising platform with help of fake hoax.
- Christina