Ready to watch the Qatar 2022 World Cup final? Find out how to avoid falling for event-related cyber-scams

This Sunday, December 18, the grand final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup will take place. However, this event also means that cybercriminals they will be on the lookout to try to scam users in any way.

“Such large international events inevitably attract a variety of scammers, who cleverly prey on people’s trust. Related scams can take various forms, from selling fake tickets to sports betting. In such cases, fans should be as vigilant as possible, as we know that free is always expensive.”, comments Olga Svistunova, web content analyst at Kaspersky.

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Fake apps and websites

In recent years, just before major sporting events, experts have noted spikes in the registration of domain names whose names are based on the aforementioned events. Most of these sites were used for fraud, such as free streaming of live matches. Apps are a classic means of attack, especially for Android users. At the start of the World Cup, more than 50 cases of mobile malware were detected that could install malicious software on a victim’s device, and then request payment for a ticket or make a fake live broadcast or steal your personal data, such as passwords, email accounts, card numbers, etc..

In fact, a study of previous championships indicates that The victims of sports-related scams are often casual fans wanting to watch the game live or installing sports apps for the first time. Therefore, never visit or download suspicious apps or sites. Also, if you don’t know sports, ask a family member or friend beforehand as this person will probably recommend the best pages to watch the final live, which will help you avoid pirated sites and fraudulent applications.

Unfortunately, Not even official apps can guarantee protection against the leakage of personal data. Before the start of this World Cup, warnings were already sounding about privacy problems in the applications that visitors to Qatar had to install. These could make it easier for users to be spied on, similar to the vulnerabilities found in Chinese apps for this year’s Winter Olympics.. Therefore, the main security rule that you should keep in mind, even in official apps, is to minimize their access to your personal data and other applications and systems on your smartphone. Be sure to make the necessary settings for each app you download and remember to remove such apps as soon as you no longer use them.

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Free WIFI”

The emotion of the final is best experienced in company. This is why large groups of fans will gather, not only in homes, but in public places like restaurants, bars, parks, and even on the street, to watch the game. But the price of such convenience is the risk of encountering cybercriminals. Therefore, no matter how tempting or urgent a private transaction may seem, passwordless Wi-Fi networks are not ideal for handling important information.

Any data you send or receive over a public WiFi network could be visible to anyone with access to the same network. Even if a network has a password, this does not mean it is secure.. An attacker could log in just as easily as you, since passwords are often printed on a banner visible to everyone. What’s more, some cybercriminals go further and instead of connecting to existing public Wi-Fi networks, they create and lure their victims to their own, which carry a similar name, thus giving criminals easy access to information about the victims.

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Fake bookmakers

The FIFA final always attracts the attention of fans of the game from all over the world. People place bets in the hope of guessing the winning team or the final score of the match to get a big prize. Scammers have wasted no time trying to take advantage of fan excitement by creating fake giveaways.

They have created betting pages, where fans are asked to send an SMS with the winning team or the best player. Therefore, the victim’s number is added to the scammers’ database so that they can contact the victim in the future in other schemes, or sell their data on the dark web, etc..

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How to avoid these cyber scams?

To avoid scams, keep money safe, and keep fans’ personal data private, Kaspersky experts offer the following recommendations:

Source: Elcomercio

Callum

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