The mega football event in Qatar seems to have come under the preying eyes of cyber hackers, according to a recent research named “FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Cyber Threat Landscape” by CloudSEK, an AI-based cybersecurity company.
Due to the popularity of the FIFA World Cup, there is a huge demand for tickets. Scammers have set up websites that sell fake tickets and crypto coins in order to take advantage of this discrepancy between supply and demand.
The mega football event in Qatar seems to have come under the preying eyes of cyber hackers, according to a recent research named “FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Cyber Threat Landscape” by CloudSEK, an AI-based cybersecurity company.
Threat actors are piggybacking on the hype created by Crypto.com being an official FIFA sponsor and Binance having partner with Cristiano Ronaldo promote soccer-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Now, these threat actors are selling fake “World Cup Coin” and “World Cup Token” by promoting them as limited edition cryptocurrency.
“However, most of these purported coins don’t exist. Yet, the promise of high returns and the novelty factor, lure crypto investors, enthusiasts, and collectors, to fall for these scams,” says the report.
Due to the popularity of the FIFA World Cup, there is a huge demand for tickets. Scammers have set up websites that sell fraudulent tickets in order to take advantage of this discrepancy between supply and demand.
According to the CloudSEK report, the phishing sites ask users to sign up, and after collecting their PII, it redirects users to a payment page. After the payment is successful, users don’t receive the tickets. In some cases, even the payment gateway is fake and is designed to steal banking information.
“Threat actors employ techniques such as fast flux, botnets, and reverse tunnel services to ensure that the fake sites are not detected and taken down. There are even Telegram channels that claim to provide ticket availability checking services. They then notify users when tickets are available, and direct them to list phishing domains to book tickets,” said the report.
Here Are Some Of The Recommendations For FIFA Fans From CloudSEK Report
- Buy FIFA tickets and Hayya cards only from the official website.
- Validate the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies before investing in them.
- Don’t avail FIFA related services from Telegram or social media.
- Do not share your PII or banking details with unknown persons or websites.
- Don’t instal applications shared via Telegram, social media, or from third-party app stores.
- Review permissions requested by apps and disable permissions that are not necessary for the app’s functionality.
- Be wary of schemes that seem too good to be true.