Cape Town - A warning to people thinking of buying
soccer World Cup tickets on the internet was circulated on Thursday by
Project 2010, a website promoting the competition.
The warning originates with Symantec, the internet security firm, which
said it expects a huge rise in World Cup-related spam and phishing attacks
in the run-up to and during the football finals.
Symantec said cyber criminals see high profile sporting events as a
"prime opportunity".
"As time draws near fans become increasingly likely to take risks and
purchase tickets through unauthorised channels or believe the promises in
unsolicited e-mails," said Candid Wueest, from Symantec. "This can not only
land fans with useless counterfeit tickets, but also lead to the theft of
their credit card details and fund organised crime.
"Analysis of spam and phishing attacks around major events in the past
has shown an increase in such themed attacks."
Symantec urged web users to purchase tickets only from Fifa registered
sellers and avoid deals that sound too good to be true, as they probably
are.
- I-Net Bridge