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Survey Spam Also Bank on 2012 Olympics Fever

25
Jul
2012

It’s no surprise to see that criminals are banking on a highly anticipated sporting event such as the 2012 Olympic Games, which will be held in London, England. And as early as 2010, Olympic-themed spam has been out there. There’s a number of different types, too-from the classic lottery scam mails, to fake tickets and phishing scams, to purported promos and malware-laden spam.

You’d think you’ve seen them all.

GFI Software Threat Researcher Robert Stetson spotted another kind of spam to add to this growing list: a survey scam that entices users with two free airline tickets to London to see the Olympic Games.


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From: olympic-games-survey
Subject: We want you at the 2012 Olympic Games
Message body:
Do you have any big plans this summer?
Then why not go to the 2012 London Olympic Games on us!
smtp2(dot)squashgolestan(dot)com/19124630320c87376650361523504

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held in London from 27 July to 12 August 2012, This will be only the 3rd time Ever that the Olympic Games have been hosted in London!

There will be 205 nations to take part in 300 events at the Olympic Games in 2012.

Don’t miss out on this great opportunity!
smtp2(dot)squashgolestan(dot)com/19124630320c87376650361523504

Clicking the link on the message body leads users to this professional-looking Web page:

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After answering the first set of questions by clicking on buttons, it then tells users to input their email address:

click to enlarge

Users are then directed to a form page and asked to input additional information about themselves-a requirement in order for the supposedly free tickets to be sent.

click to enlarge

Are you seeing red yet? You should be.

Just when users thought that they’ll be seeing that final message that goes “Please expect your tickets to arrive after two days”, they are faced with more-wait for it-survey questions!

click to enlarge

See the progress bar at the upper right portion of the page? That crawls slowly to the end while users are forced to put up with page after page of assorted “advertised” products and services, which are not limited to cigarettes, car insurance, prescription drugs, credit cards, and free gadgets.

After users have done the whole song and dance number to get what they’re after, in the end, no tickets were given away to them, but information was taken away from them.

All eyes are set on the Olympics this time of the year. As such, it’s always wise to anticipate that online criminals will continue to bank on this event, during the games proper and even after. Be on the lookout for any Olympics-themed mails that might land in your inbox. More importantly, be wary of clicking links that appear to be news and games updates on social media and networking sites.

Stay safe!

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