War between Israel and Gaza. Double-check before donating any money
Cybercriminals who operate on the Internet are constantly looking for new ways to enrich themselves at the expense of innocent Internet users. They monitor messages and track television events to find another pretext for extorting money and personal data. Recently, the escalating conflict between Israel and Palestinian militant groups has opened a new field of operation for these fraudsters.
9:44 AM EDT, October 18, 2023
Cybercriminal groups have already begun bombarding consumers' mailboxes with fake messages that aim to defraud donations for alleged aid to the victims of this conflict. In connection with this, the Bitdefender team decided to take a close look at this phishing campaign and prepared a guide that will help understand how not to become a victim of these cyber criminals.
The latest phishing campaign related to the conflict between Israel and Gaza
Specialists from Bitdefender Antispam Lab first noticed spam campaigns with a war theme on October 13. Many spam messages were sent to mailboxes in Russia, then Sweden, Romania, Iran, and India, as well as in the USA, Japan, Germany and Great Britain.
Email scam schemes are similar to the spam trends that researchers from Bitdefender observed during the conflict in Ukraine. These scams typically involve requests for donations in the form of cryptocurrencies and advance fee scams, leveraging the humanitarian crisis and the suffering of victims on both sides of the conflict.
Despite thousands of victims and a real need for help, ruthless cybercriminals continue their spam attacks. They impersonate victims or fake charitable organizations to defraud innocent internet users and deprive those who genuinely need help, of their livelihood.
How not to fall victim to donation-related scams?
Phishing emails asking for help for war victims will continue to be regularly delivered to the inboxes of users around the world. Scammers will continue to adapt their "stories" and requests for donations in line with the latest news and updates on the conflict.
"A key element in protecting your safety and finances is to thoroughly check all communication related to conflict, whether it is conveyed via email, phone, text messages, or social media. Always check the organization before making any payment - requests for donations in cryptocurrencies, wire transfers, and gift cards are very suspicious and may indicate that we are dealing with a scammer" - advises the cybersecurity team from Marken Antivirus Systems, the Polish distributor of Bitdefender software.
Never respond to unwanted emails that you know are scams. This will only inform the scammers that your email address is valid, and they will continue to attack you with phishing campaigns.
It is also important to secure your devices with an antivirus system that has been equipped with an antiphishing module. This will protect us from dangerous links that could lead to the infection of our device.
