As summer approaches, the 2016 European Championship and Rio Olympics pose a great opportunity for criminals to strike online. As these events near, security experts regularly observe a spike in online spam activities.

Fraudsters have already begun sending spam emails and texts about lottery wins linked to the Euro 2016 football tournament. It is expected similar messages will also arise as the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro approaches.

Experts are warning Internet users about these malicious spam messages containing attachments with logos of Euro 2016, the 2016 Rio Olympics, and their respective sponsors.

“The contents of the attachments are the standard stuff: the lottery was held by an authorised organisation, the recipient’s address was randomly selected from a large number of email addresses, and in order to claim your prize you have to reply to the email and provide some personal information. We have recorded cases where the same attachment was sent in messages with a different text, but the theme of the email is essentially the same.”

A Kaspersky spokesperson writing for a SecureList blog

Unfortunately, these kind of attacks can often be very effective.

“This type of fraudulent spam can be one of the most dangerous for users: the perpetrators are unlikely to limit their activity to fake lotteries, and will start spreading various emails offering the chance to win tickets to the games, as was the case before the World Cup in Brazil.”

A Kaspersky spokesperson writing for a SecureList blog

For more information about our work, please visit www.safeinwarwickshire.com/cybercrime

Be Cyber Streetwise is a cross-government campaign, funded by the National Cyber Security Programme. They aim to measurably and significantly improve the online safety behaviour and confidence of consumers and small businesses (SMEs).

Get Safe Online is the UK’s leading source of factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety. Their website offers advice on how you can protect yourself, your computers and devices, and your business against the likes of fraud, identity theft, viruses and other potential online problems.