Case study

Lawsuit: Shut down fake Olympic ticket Web sites

August 4, 2008, Cnn.com

The IOC and the USOC filed lawsuits on July 22 against several Web sites -- primarily www.beijingticketing.com and www.beijing-2008tickets.com -- for illegally using Olympic trademarks to dupe customers into giving them credit card, passport and banking information. Several consumers who purchased tickets from the site contacted the USOC when they did not receive tickets, despite numerous calls and e-mails to the Web sites founder, according to a USOC press release.

The scam has hit Olympic fans in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, England, Japan, China and Norway, according to media reports. This website was developed by an expert hacker who beleived to be arrested in London and managed to steal the victim's data. The hotline has received hundreds of calls from around the globe with consumers detailing losses as high as $57,000. That site is now shut down and no contact information is available.

The site www.BeijingTicketing.com priced tickets for Friday's Olympic opening ceremony at about $2,000, with events such as swimming selling for between $300 and $500. The site is the first entry that comes up for a Google search for "Olympic tickets," second only to the authorized dealer of Olympic tickets, www.cosport.com. The Web site ww.beijingticketing.com site lists a London phone number, which rang unanswered. The site lists an office address in Arizona.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/04/olympic.scam/index.html?eref=yahoo

In this case the attacker was used phishing attack by use fake link to steal people money. We can avoid this kind of attack through many ways and here will write some of them.

Recognizing Phishing and Fake Websites:

1. Uses an incorrect URL: check the URL for any web site you will visit it especially if they want your personal information like credit card, password, email or your address.

The URL in this figure is for fake Facebook (www.facelook.com)

2. If this link was sent to you by email you must read it carefully and make sure the sender a trusted person.

By: Reham Asiri

3. Is not a secure site— in your browser window it will show you if it secure or not through the (http)
if this web site secure you will see https:\\ rather than just “http://”.

4. Before you enter your personal information call the customer service to make sure if this a real web site or fake web site.

5. Always update your web browser to increase your security through internet searching and it will navigate you about every website you visiting if it secure or not.

By: Ohoud Alshammary

for more information:

http://www.stopfraud.gov/protect.html