Fake Olympic live streaming sites mushrooming

Following the opening of the 2012 London Olympics last weekend, a number of websites have mushroomed offering live video streaming sites, a security vendor said Monday (Manila time).

 

But Trend Micro said the sites redirect users to either sites selling fake tickets, or those requiring users to enter their email addresses and online credentials.

 

“Upon analysis, some of these sites redirected to fake live broadcast of London Olympics 2012 and contained a link for buying cheap albeit bogus tickets ... Other fake live streaming sites when clicked will redirect to another site requiring an email address. As such, cybercriminals can harvest email addresses, which may be used for their spamming activities,” it said in a blog post.

 

The sites will top lists of searches using the keywords “watch london olympics opening ceremony live,” “watch london olympics online,” and “watch london olympics 2012 live,” Trend Micro said.

 

It said those behind the scam appeared to use Blackhat search engine optimization to make sure their sites topped the search results page.

 

Earlier, Trend Micro reported a separate cyberscam involving fraudulent websites that sell illegal TV cards to Japanese users.

 

Meanwhile, Trend Micro warned users against malicious websites disguised as the Google Play store.

 

It said the web page content is written in Russian and has a search box.

 

“When users search for London Olympics-related application, a rogue application, London2012-Official game is seen. The said site also contains a QR code and download button. Once unsuspecting users clicked the download button, it redirects to a web hosting site that serves a variant of ANDROIDOS_SMSBOXER malware family. This malware is notorious for sending messages to premium numbers without the user’s consent,” it said.

 

Trend Micro also said the same bogus Google Play store features a rogue app, “The Dark Knight Rises mobile game,” appearing to leverage the movie “The Dark Knight Rises.”

 

“Users are strongly advised to download apps related to London Olympics in the official Google Play store and watch live streaming on legitimate sites only,” it advised. — TJD, GMA News