analysts of Kaspersky have discovered a new fake campaign circulating on WhatsApp: a promotion that promises the new Panini Qatar 2022 football figurines album and over 400 free stickers. However, the link directs users to dubious sweepstakes pages and to sign up for sports betting sites that contain an affiliate system; that is, they generate money for the organizers of fraudulent campaigns with each registration.
“Access and win the album with more than 400 sheets” is the initial message to access the promotion of this year’s soccer figurine album, with the promise of immediate delivery and a link for the person to access, supposedly , to the website of the publisher that produces the albums.
Clicking the link redirects the user to a survey with basic questions about the album and its publisher, displaying an alert about the number of albums still available. The message encourages participants to act fast so they don’t miss out on the opportunity to receive the album and stickers for free. In the end, as in the known similar scamsthe survey asks the user to share the false promotion message with their contacts, a practice that spreads the fraud to other people.
After sharing the link, the user is redirected to various sites that require personal data to register him/her for shady promotions or online gambling sites with affiliate schemes.
“These schemes are designed to trick the victim into signing up for different sites. In this case of the football sticker album, the campaign is fake because its real goal is to get the person to sign up for suspicious sweepstakes or gambling sites. It is worth remembering that the betting sites also have an affiliate scheme, making the creators of the campaign earn a ‘commission’ for each registration made through the shared link”, Explain Fabio Assolini, Director of the Research and Analysis Team for Latin America at Kaspersky.
The expert also reiterates to the fans the importance of being cautious with their information. “In a couple of months, the ball will roll in Qatar kicking off the 2022 World Cup. Right now, players and coaches are reviewing their tactics, plans and strategies in order to beat their opponents. However, they are not the only ones as cybercriminals around the world are also doing the same thing. Therefore, it is important for fans to be vigilant and cautious with their personal and financial information as we get closer to the event, cybercriminals will set more traps using phishing and social engineering.”, emphasizes Assolini.
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