As the next variant of COVID-19 – Omicron is triggering fear among people, scammers are taking advantage of this situation to steal sensitive data from such unsusceptible people.
As reported by Which?, a new phishing campaign based on Omicron is targeting UK citizens in the wild, fake offering test kits and asking for money and personal details. The campaign is run through phone, email, or SMS.
Omicron Based Phishing Campaign
Just when we’re hoping the world is getting back on its feet from COVID-19’s drama, we now have a new threat to worry about – Omicron. Several healthcare institutions and WHO have recently announced that the Omicron variant is a real threat, which spreads faster than the previous COVID-19 variant thus needs addressing.
And such warnings caused panic among people, who’re easily falling prey to cyberattacks. As reported by Which?, the UK consumer watchdog, a new phishing campaign based on the Omicron variant is in wild, targeting UK citizens. Threat actors are cashing in on this panic situation of people, through phishing emails, phone calls, and SMS.
As per a sample email text shared by Which? the threat actors say;
“NHS scientists have warned that the new Covid [sic] variant Omicron spreads rapidly, can be transmitted between fully vaccinated people, and makes jabs less effective. However, as the new covid [sic] variant (Omicron) has quickly become apparent, we have had to make new test kits as the new variant appears dormant in the original tests.”
Thus, on the theme of offering free Omicron testing kits, threat actors are asking users to fill out forms containing details like full name, date of birth, address, phone numbers, and email address for registration. Further, they’re asking people to pay a small sum of £1.24 as a delivery fee and mention their mother’s maiden name too. This gives them access to the victim’s PII and banking details.
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