ICC World Cup 2023: Beware of Fake Tickets, Phishing Scams and Cyber Threats Ahead of Event – News18

Even as Indian cricket followers await the ICC World Cup 2023, one other group is equally excited in regards to the occasion, albeit for nefarious causes — cybercriminals.

Major worldwide sporting occasions such because the ICC World Cup draw billions of viewers and followers, creating an ideal storm for cybercriminals. The mixture of a worldwide viewers and elevated on-line exercise surrounding the occasion presents a golden alternative for malicious actors to launch quite a lot of cyberattacks.

THE THREATS

• Fake tickets: Cybercriminals could create pretend tickets and promote them to unsuspecting followers. These tickets could also be invalid or counterfeit, and followers who buy them could also be denied entry to the stadium.
• Phishing makes an attempt: Phishing emails and web sites could impersonate official ICC World Cup communications, urging recipients to click on on malicious hyperlinks or present private info, reminiscent of bank card particulars.
• Fraudulent fee platforms: Be cautious when making on-line funds for tickets, merchandise, or providers associated to the occasion. Cybercriminals could arrange pretend fee platforms to steal your monetary info.
• Travel scams: Scammers could pose as journey businesses providing discounted packages to attend the ICC World Cup. These fraudulent journey offers can result in non-existent lodging or transportation.
• Streaming matches: For followers watching matches on-line, it’s important to make use of reliable streaming providers to keep away from misleading advertisements and malware.

EXPERTSPEAK

Ahead of the Qatar FIFA World Cup, cybersecurity firm McAfee additionally launched an alert report highlighting the varied dangers and scams related to main sporting occasions, emphasising the significance of vigilance and providing tricks to defend oneself from these cyber threats throughout such tournaments.

Amit Relan, Co-Founder and CEO of mFilterIt, informed News18: “Some of the most common cyber threats that see a rise are the use of fake accounts and misleading ads that lure users to click and even make a purchase at certain events. The misleading ads often manipulate users with ‘too-good-to-be-true deals’ and leads them to their phished or spoofed website. Eventually, the users end up entering their personal information to access the benefits and become a victim of the phishing scam.”

Saiprasad Shankar, CTO at Deciml, stated that one other frequent risk can be UPI ID spoofing, through which scammers could create misleading UPI IDs that carefully resemble reliable ones, reminiscent of ‘bookmyyshow@upi,’ which can seem convincing, however are literally fraudulent. He additional famous that each one these tips are aimed toward stealing private and monetary info.

PRECAUTIONS

Fans are suggested to stay vigilant in opposition to such cyber threats. Experts give some suggestions:

• Be suspicious of emails or web sites that you’re not anticipating
• Do not click on on hyperlinks in emails except you might be positive they’re reliable
• As phishing emails and web sites are sometimes poorly written and will comprise grammatical errors, it’s essential keep watch over that.
• The customers should understand that the actual fee platform or a real model won’t be pushy with their communication.
• Genuine platforms won’t ever redirect you to a third-party web site to finish funds.