Malicious people tried to extort personal data and money by pretending to be a French government site, Numerama reports. This false site claimed, in exchange for some information including the transmission of the credit card number, to allow the French to obtain financial compensation to deal with the Covid-19 crisis.
"On March 26, 2020, the government decided to take additional measures to compensate 95% of the loss of income among eligible households," we could read on the home page of this site. This scam raised hopes for help to visitors who, for example, were no longer active or were on partial unemployment. The fraud offered users to verify a possible eligibility for this assistance, provided they provide name, surname, address and credit card to verify the identity of the applicant. Hackers thus collected personal data.
300 phishing campaigns
The website banner included the codes and the graphic charter of the official sites as well as the government logo. Two criteria however made it possible to suspect a fraud: on the one hand, the address of lodging of the site could raise suspicions, and on the other hand, a government site never asks for the coordinates of bank card, specifies Numerama.
This example is far from unique and does not only concern France. The company Proofpoint established that more than a hundred phishing campaigns have been carried out since the beginning of the year, in a report published on May 14. We learn that cybercriminals have impersonated the World Health Organization (WHO), NGOs, or various governments. Since January 2020, no less than 300 phishing campaigns linked to the Covid-19 - with a peak in March - have been identified.
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- High-Tech
- Government
- Hacker
- Cybercriminality
- Phishing
- Personal data