BrandShield Report Shows Global Surge in Qatar World Cup Cyber Fraud
Study finds huge spike and more than 10,000 domain registrations related to the World Cup
Cybercriminals increasingly targeting individuals leading up to one of the world’s biggest sporting events
Report warns consumers to look out for impersonated websites, trademark infringements, suspicious marketplaces and ticketing fraud
BrandShield (LSE: BRSD), a cybersecurity company specializing in monitoring, detecting, and removing online threats, today announced new data regarding the prevalence of website, marketplace and social media fraud related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
“By posing as official websites, social media accounts, and e-commerce dealers, cybercriminals are capitalizing on a significant opportunity to defraud individuals worldwide and obtain sensitive personal data,” said BrandShield CEO, Yoav Keren. “Given the global popularity of football and timeliness of the World Cup, individuals should remain vigilant as we expect fraudulent activity to intensify through the finals.”
BrandShield’s in-depth report monitored websites, domain names, social media platforms and marketplaces between February and October 2022, detecting almost 10,000 suspicious domain registrations relating to the World Cup in Qatar. ‘World Cup’ and ‘FIFA’ were the two most popular targeted impersonations, with domain registrations increasing 252% and 137% across this period, respectively.
In addition to rogue websites, BrandShield identified a vast range of social media World Cup phishing scams. Cybercriminals are continuing to create fraudulent tickets and news pages on leading social media platforms in an attempt to deceive individuals into visiting malicious sites and revealing personal information, and BrandShield anticipates that these scams will proliferate in December.
The report also found that online marketplaces have been popular targets for cybercriminals, with trademark infringements commonly observed throughout the period. Malicious actors continue to register suspicious domains to pose as e-commerce platforms, alongside offering counterfeited World Cup and football-themed merchandise and memorabilia to exploit consumers on these fake websites and well-known e-commerce platforms.
For more information on BrandShield, please visit https://www.brandshield.com. For questions related to findings in the report, please email brandshield@vsc.co.
About BrandShield
BrandShield is a leading cybersecurity company founded in Israel by cybersecurity experts that protect the world’s largest brands and consumers from phishing attacks, online fraud, impersonation, counterfeits and other online threats posed by dangerous cybercriminals. Through its AI/ML platform, BrandShield identifies, tracks, and eliminates online threats for global brands and organizations, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Levi’s, New Balance, Swisscom, and the Pharmaceutical Security Institute. BrandShield is listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM under the ticker symbol BRSD.
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