Scammer Season: Cyber security experts warn fans against 3 types of IPL-related scams

Mumbai: With millions of people interested in and following it, everyone wants to ride the Indian Premier League (IPL) bandwagon — even online scammers and fraudsters. Welcome to the IPL fever-induced Scammer Season.

 With the IPL fever triggering massive online activities with millions of fans taking to the internet for ticketing and information, experts from global cybersecurity and digital privacy company Kaspersky have identified three types of online scams and have warned Indian cricket fans against falling prey to scams piggybacking on the popular cricketing event, Kaspersky said in a release on Tuesday.

According to Kaspersky, fraudsters are exploiting the popularity of the 18th edition of the IPL, which started on March 23 and is currently being played at various venues nationwide, to deceive individuals through different scam tactics.

Kaspersky also released visual evidence of some of such scam pages to help gullible people save themselves from being cheated.

Experts from the global cybersecurity and digital company have spotted three IPL-related tactics that cybercriminals are using to lure fans of the premier league. The three scams are — scam pages disguised as ticket listings, streaming websites redirecting to various scams, and promotional campaigns, claiming to offer free IPL tickets.

The first and foremost of these three fraudulent activities is one in which “scam pages are disguised as ticket listings”.

“Kaspersky researchers have identified websites that pretend to sell tickets for IPL matches. Fraudsters create a website that mimics official ticketing platforms with logos, branding, and realistic-looking interfaces. Victims are usually asked to make payments via a bank card, with no option for refunds. And after payment, as typically done within such schemes, tickets are never delivered,” the company claimed. Another way cybercriminals are baiting IPL fans is through streaming websites.  (IANS)

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