According to the latest research published by Bitdefender Labsit seems that trips e vacation are currently in the center of a intense phishing campaign widespread internationally. Research telemetry analyzes show a strong increase of the phenomenon precisely in conjunction with the start of the summer holiday season. Let’s find out all the details together.
The new Bitdefender research: travel and holidays at the center of a phishing campaign
As revealed, these campaigns use different techniques to deceive users and trick them into provide personal information, credentials e credit card data. Among the main techniques used are fake surveys / gifts and dangerous websites.
According to Bitdefender, the travel-themed spam e vacation hit the mailboxes of users internationally starting from March 2022. In particular, the United States were affected (37%); Ireland (18%); India (12%) and the United Kingdom (9%).
It also appears that cybercriminals are using different modes:
- Phishing baits using keywords related to summer vacations and the most popular airlines (Delta, American, United, Alaska) for surveys and gift card giveaways;
- Malicious websites for sending “urgent” invoice messages o credit card transactions that trick users into downloading malware.
Bitfender reveals that cybercriminals they also exploited malicious domains and URLs to induce potential victims a download infected attachments in the form of invoices e transactions with credit card. Usually these methods provoke an emotional reaction from the recipients and lead them to fall victim to the scam.
Bitdefender’s spam and malware filters also detected a particularly dangerous campaign. According to reports, the criminals are pretending popular international hotel chains e tour operators actually transmitting trojans capable of stealing credentials. Among the main names stolen are Accor Hotels, Panorama Tours, Meritus Hotels and many others.
Below we present the objects of emails used by cybercriminals.
- Bonus flight hours;
- Vacation rentals and all-inclusive offers;
- Booking receipt notices;
- Booking Confirmations;
- Freebies of airline tickets.
Pay attention to what you find on the internet
About 23 million Italians intend to leave in the summer, as confirmed by the Confturismo-Confcommercio Observatory, Bitdefender invites all users to pay close attention when booking their holidays and travels. Here are some tips to avoid falling into any scams.
- Use a local security solution with anti-fraud filtering systems e anti-phishing to avoid ending up on a bogus website;
- Never provide your credit card number or sensitive data during a phone call with a travel agency;
- Never use bank transfers o cryptocurrency transfers to pay for your reservation. Instead, use one credit card or a conto PayPalso that you can easily contest any fraudulent charges;
- Use reliable platforms e authentic to book holidays and to search for accommodation, flights and excursions. Avoid ads that promote offers that are too good to be true;
- Before buying a vacation via a social media addo your research and don’t rely on positive reviews as they may be faked;
- Check that offer there are no grammatical errors, ortographic errors o inconsistencies;
- Do not click on links o unsolicited attachmentseven if the offer seems inviting.
- Always make sure that the contract or accommodation exists before making the payment.