The variety of tactics, from fake lotteries to impersonating officials, demonstrates the broad scope of threats targeting the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The post Cybercrime Targeting Paris 2024 Olympic Games Gains Steam appeared first on Security Boulevard.
Impersonating domain 'paris24tickets[.]com' (Source: archive.org)[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_77365" align="alignnone" width="2800"]
Official Olympics Ticketing Site (Source: https://tickets.paris2024.org)[/caption]
The researchers noticed that in some cases, the scammers even sent emails promising "discounts" on coveted tickets to victims. This tactic was likely done to lure unsuspecting individuals, who may have been desperate to secure tickets at lower costs.
Victims who have provided their personal or financial information on the fraudulent website risk having their identities and money stolen. The scammers behind these websites may also collect important personal data, such as names, contact information, and credit card details, for sale or further malicious campaigns.
Source: Shutterstock[/caption]
200 French gendarmes had been mobilized as a distinct unit to monitor the internet and various different social networks for Olympics ticketing-related fraud and mass resales, under the direction of the Europol. These units work along with the DGCCRF (Directorate General for Consumer Affairs, Competition and Fraud Prevention) in France.
Captain Etienne Lestrelin, director of operations at the unit, told France Info radio that social media such as Facebook, Leboncoin, Telegram and Instagram were often “the primary source of resale attempts.” He added, “This is an exchange from individual to individual. Except that the buyer does not know if the person really owns the tickets, since they are virtual tickets, not tickets paper. So people are selling you wind, we don't know what they're selling."
Lestrelin advised that tickets sold at too low of a price can alert potential buyers: "You will never have a ticket below its original cost. The goal of people who were able to buy tickets in volume and with the intention of reselling them, it is to make a profit So it is an alert if you find a much cheaper ticket. The sentence to remember is that there is no. very good deals on the internet, it's not possible."
He instructed that it was also not possible to own a ticket before the event begins and QR Codes are generated. Anyone who claims to be currently in possession of a ticket, or owns tickets that seem visually legitimate, is still a fraud. He warned buyers to be vigilant about buying such tickets outside of official sources because it can also be an offense. "You are associating yourself with the offense that the seller commits when he resells without going through the official website. This is a criminal offense," he stated.
To validate purchases, buyers can cross-check provided references with the official Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games application. Buyers who suspect that they may have been duped can report to a police station, a gendarmerie or the DGCCRF. Legitimate ticket purchases can be made through the official ticketing website or official sub-distributor network. Google and Microsoft warn of elevated risks of cyber threats facing the 2024 Paris Olympics, especially from Russian threat actors.
The post Google, Microsoft: Russian Threat Actors Pose High Risk to 2024 Paris Olympics appeared first on SecurityWeek.
Enlarge / A visual from the fake documentary Olympics Has Fallen produced by Russia-affiliated influence actor Storm-1679. (credit: Microsoft)
Last year, a feature-length documentary purportedly produced by Netflix began circulating on Telegram. Titled “Olympics have Fallen” and narrated by a voice with a striking similarity to that of actor Tom Cruise, it sharply criticized the leadership of the International Olympic Committee. The slickly produced film, claiming five-star reviews from The New York Times, Washington Post, and BBC, was quickly amplified on social media. Among those seemingly endorsing the documentary were celebrities on the platform Cameo.
A recently published report by Microsoft (PDF) said the film was not a documentary, had received no such reviews, and that the narrator's voice was an AI-produced deep fake of Cruise. It also said the endorsements on Cameo were faked. The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Report went on to say that the fraudulent documentary and endorsements were only one of many elaborate hoaxes created by agents of the Russian government in a yearlong influence operation intended to discredit the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and deter participation and attendance at the Paris Olympics starting next month.
Other examples of the Kremlin’s ongoing influence operation include:
Russian threat groups are using old tactics and generative AI to run malicious disinformation campaigns meant to discredit the Paris Olympic Games, France and its president, and the IOC -- less than two months before the Games begin.
The post Russian Threat Groups Turn Eyes to the Paris Olympic Games appeared first on Security Boulevard.
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