Phishers are constantly developing new strategies in an effort to trick end users. In April 2012, phishers created sites spoofing the Apple brand with fake offers for Apple discount cards. In this phishing attack, customers were targeted by region: namely, the UK and Australia.

The phishing sites mimicked the webpage of Apple and prompted customers for their Apple ID. The phishing page stated the customer’s long-term loyalty toward the brand gave them eligibility for an Apple discount card as a reward. Upon entering an Apple ID and clicking the “Next” button, the customer was redirected to a page that asked for more confidential information:

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Spammers are traversing through various social networks in order to find a new pool of users to dupe. We recently observed spam on social photo-sharing app Instagram. This campaign is similar to an earlier blog post which highlighted how spammers use social networking accounts to get users to click through to affiliate pages. Instagram users will see a comment on their photos claiming Instagram has partnered with an organization, in this particular case Best Buy, encouraging visits to the fake profile with free gift card giveaways:
 

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Co-Author: Avdhoot Patil

Phishing sites with adult content are not uncommon. Phishers have often used adult content as bait in fake social networking applications. In March 2012, a phishing site spoofing a gaming brand claimed to have an adult webcam application. The phishing site was hosted on a free web hosting site and the phishing page was in Italian.

A fake offer was given on the phishing site and an adult webcam image was placed below it. According to the fake offer, the gaming brand had prepared a list of users who were willing to perform nude webcam shows for a small price, even free. The phishing site further claimed that by entering login credentials one could receive through email the names of the users willing to perform and be able to add them to their contact list. The phishing site explained that login credentials were required because the brand decided could not disclose the names of performers outside the network to maintain privacy. To gain...

Co-Authors: Ashish Diwakar and Avdhoot Patil

Phishers often choose baits with the motive of targeting a large audience. Using popular celebrities as bait is a good example. Phishers understand that choosing celebrities with a large fan base would target the largest audience and supply more duped users. This month phishers are using the same strategy but, instead of targeting a popular celebrity, they associated their phishing site with the popular FC Barcelona football club. FC Barcelona is the world’s second richest football club and has a large fan following. The phishing site, hosted on a free web hosting site, has since been removed and is no longer active. However, though phishing sites are frequently short-lived, internet users should be aware that other phishing sites using this or a similar template could easily be encountered in future.

The phishing site...