Beware of phishing sites, GoT fans advised
KUCHING: Malwares disguising as ‘ Game of Thrones’ ( GoT) content are making rounds on social media and emai ls, seemingly preying on hardcore fans of the long-running popular television series on HBO.
In this respect, an information t e chnolo g y ( IT) supp or t specialist Lai Yeng Kian warns fans to be more aware of several scams, including fake websites, touting exclusive merchandises and event tickets.
“It came to my notice after several friends, who are GoT fans, told me that they got some exclusive offers through a link shared on Facebook, and asked me if the website was legitimate or not.
“Imme d i ately, I made a quick search on Google, and true enough, these so- cal led merchandise websites have been highlighted by several cyber- security sites as phishing sites,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Lai pointed out that with the highly- anticipated final season of GoT being rolled out, fans might be careless in clicking on whatever links related to it.
“The fake sites look so real that it’s not difficult for people, who are excited about the show, to drop their guard and (in the end) get cheated,” he said.
Quoting from a blog post by an American cyber- security company Check Point Software Technologies titled ‘ Game of Thrones Phishing Scams and How to Avoid Them’, Lai listed two main categories of websites that used GoT branding.
“In this blog post, the writers say there are two categories of such sites, either legitimate or fraudulent. They say, ( and) I quote: ‘While both categories use the popularity of the brand to lure users in, their motivations are different. The legitimate websites include fan pages, online games or small shopping sites, looking for potential customers or new community members’.
“The writers go on to say that ‘ fraudulent websites exploit the popularity of the brand to display ads, acquire personal information or convince the user to install an unwanted programme. These fraudulent websites mostly include sites requesting personal information for marketing opportunities, and fake streaming sites, requesting the user to download a browser add- on and provide personal information, while no streaming content is displayed at the end of the process’.
“So that is why Internet users have to be very careful and must learn to discern between legitimate and fraudulent sites in order to avoid falling for such scams online,” stressed Lai, adding that the general rule- ofthumb for safe Internet usage is ‘ never to click on dubious links, especially those shared on social media or in unsolicited emails’.
The f u l l text of the blog post by Check Point Software Technologies can be accessed via https:// blog. checkpoint. com/ 2 019 / 0 4 / 16 / game - o f - thrones- phishing- scams- andhow-to- avoid-them.