It’s dark and bleak outside, probably raining, all you want to do is get away from it into the sunshine; then, suddenly, into your inbox pops the perfect offer! A chance to win EasyJet flights, your chance to get away from the grey bleakness of blighty in October.
Yes, hot off the presses this scam is just in time for the end of summer blues.
What is the Scam?
The email is entitled “Chance to win EasyJet plane tickets worth £1500!” This one almost got me. I was feeling fed up, looking out of the window at the pouring rain. I’d already had to switch the central heating on. When I saw the tempting possibility of winning a plane ticket to somewhere sunny, the urge to click almost took over.
But I stopped myself, just in time. This is a scam and a good one too. This is what stopped me clicking:
- The sent from email address was: denveʀs@8134299136.152mail.fun – this was the biggest giveaway. I thought the dot fun extension was a nice touch.
- The branding was off. The email was poorly branded and didn’t look like the usual EasyJet emails I get; for example, it doesn’t carry the EasyJet logo.
One noticeable thing about this phishing email and many others is that it contains a large clickable image rather than text. This means that you can very easily click on the image by accident. If you do, it takes you to a phishing site.
What Happens If You Click?
Because of the image taking up most of the email, the email itself becomes one large malicious link. We ran the link through an online analyser.
The analysis showed that the website clicking on the image takes you to, was highly likely infected with malware. Opening the site could allow a change to your Windows registry – something that malware, like ransomware, does to prepare for infection. If you want to read about this in more detail, check out the MITRE ATT&CK discussion “Modify Registry” attack technique.
Cybercriminals use human behaviour to help them create successful phishing campaigns. The offer of winning some flights to somewhere warm and sunny, when it is grey and bleak outside, is the perfect situation for fraudsters to take advantage of.
Be careful about emails which seem too good to be true. And while you are being cautious, always:
- Make sure you have installed the latest security patches
- Run anti-malware software
- Be security aware
Why not help your colleagues stay safe and send them this little reminder. Feel free to edit, copy/paste the advice below:
The Holiday Flight Scam
If you receive an email from EasyJet with a chance to win flights – be cautious. There is a phishing scam doing the rounds which pretends to be from EasyJet offering a win a flight competition. This is a scam. The email contains a large image, if you click on the image you will go to a malware-infected website.
DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS IN THE EMAIL
For more information on what to do if you receive a phishing email check out “What to Do if You Click on a Phishing Link?”
© 2023 . The Defence Works. All rights reserved.