Scams and phishing attacks are growing day by day, especially brand impersonation phishing scams are found to be the fastest spreading scams on the internet. The people behind these scams impersonate a big tech corporation and ask users to enter their login issues to solve a problem with their account. Their main goal is to get the person’s financial information and private data to either steal or blackmail them.
In the latest report done by Vade, researchers say that Facebook and Microsoft were the most impersonated tech corporations when it comes to phishing scams done in the prior half 2022. Approximately 11,000 fake links were created for Microsoft and a similar 10,000 fake URLs with Facebook.
Results also indicate that Microsoft ranking top of the list is related to the 288% increase in its number of fake phishing URLs.
But these scams aren’t just limited to tech brands, instead big corporations offering financial services are the ones most affected. This makes sense as the main target of these scams is to steal money from the victims' bank accounts.
Moreover, the report shows that among all internet services, financial service companies were the most popular among impersonation scams. Among top 25 brands, eight of them were offering financial service. Among these eight brands, there were popular brands such as PayPal, MTB, and Credit Agricole which were the most popular when it comes to the greatest number of phishing URLs.
This was oddly reminiscent of Facebook and Microsoft’s huge increase in fake links overall. Similarly, Credit Agricole saw 203% phishing emails than usual, and MTB saw an astronomical 332% increase. Lastly, PayPal saw an increase in such URLs of up to 305%. This was in the first quarter of 2022 which has led to the numbers we’re seeing in the overall first half of 2022.
Even then, the cloud service apps and companies such as Netflix, Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Sharefile and Docusign. It was also brought to attention that phishing attacks were most devastating on the days of Tuesday and Wednesday. More specifically, the timings of 2 PM and 6 PM were observed to be the most popular hours for scammers. This is true as most people are stressed out from working all day and wouldn’t bother checking anything suspicious on these emails.
These scams and the people behind them are getting smarter and more efficient day by day. So double check any links and emails that you find suspicious.
Read next: Creators voice their concerns about being paid late, incorrectly, or not at all in a survey
In the latest report done by Vade, researchers say that Facebook and Microsoft were the most impersonated tech corporations when it comes to phishing scams done in the prior half 2022. Approximately 11,000 fake links were created for Microsoft and a similar 10,000 fake URLs with Facebook.
Results also indicate that Microsoft ranking top of the list is related to the 288% increase in its number of fake phishing URLs.
But these scams aren’t just limited to tech brands, instead big corporations offering financial services are the ones most affected. This makes sense as the main target of these scams is to steal money from the victims' bank accounts.
Moreover, the report shows that among all internet services, financial service companies were the most popular among impersonation scams. Among top 25 brands, eight of them were offering financial service. Among these eight brands, there were popular brands such as PayPal, MTB, and Credit Agricole which were the most popular when it comes to the greatest number of phishing URLs.
This was oddly reminiscent of Facebook and Microsoft’s huge increase in fake links overall. Similarly, Credit Agricole saw 203% phishing emails than usual, and MTB saw an astronomical 332% increase. Lastly, PayPal saw an increase in such URLs of up to 305%. This was in the first quarter of 2022 which has led to the numbers we’re seeing in the overall first half of 2022.
Even then, the cloud service apps and companies such as Netflix, Microsoft, Adobe, Google, Sharefile and Docusign. It was also brought to attention that phishing attacks were most devastating on the days of Tuesday and Wednesday. More specifically, the timings of 2 PM and 6 PM were observed to be the most popular hours for scammers. This is true as most people are stressed out from working all day and wouldn’t bother checking anything suspicious on these emails.
These scams and the people behind them are getting smarter and more efficient day by day. So double check any links and emails that you find suspicious.
Read next: Creators voice their concerns about being paid late, incorrectly, or not at all in a survey
