HYDERABAD: In their devious attempts to lure and loot people, cybercriminals come up with unique methods to target the unsuspecting customers.
The latest modus operandi being adopted by these criminals is to create fake pages, advertising popular streaming websites, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, all with an intention to collect sensitive information from potential customers.
While the top streaming services have become prime targets for distributing malware, stealing passwords and launching phishing attacks, the main targets of these criminals are those who attempt to gain access to these websites through unofficial means.
The offers come in the form of discounted or free access and subscriptions to the popular websites and apps. These unofficial links often come with malicious programmes like Trojans.
According to a recent study by Securelist, India has consistently been among the top five countries that are being targeted by such criminals.
For instance, the study had recorded that India constituted 4.9 per cent of such attacks on threats spread in the name of Hulu, a streaming website.
When it comes to Netflix fake offers, the country was the third most affected with 7.8 per cent of all such attacks and for Amazon Prime Video, it was second only to USA with 17.8 per cent of all registered attacks.
“Germany is Amazon’s largest foreign market, which explains the high number of users that encounter various threats, and India became a major focus for Amazon in 2018,” the study said. Disney+, too, which recently made a foray into the Indian market was targeted here with 7.7 per cent of all such attacks originating from the subcontinent.
Recounting a similar experience that he had, Global Cybersecurity Forum chairman Sai Krishna said that he once came across an advertisement on a popular social media platform.
This particular advertisement was using the name and logo of the social media website but he found out that it was fake and was designed to fleece money from citizens.
“I immediately checked the address of the advertisement and found it to be fake. Cybercriminals run these websites for a few days to collect money and then take the sites down,” he said.
Krishna said that websites that publish such advertisements should be more responsible about these scams.