As the hype around this year's World Cup increases towards the knockout rounds, more and more unscrupulous entities are eager to capitalize on the tournament's fame via illegal means. And if one is to base in on a report by Malwarebytes Unpacked, FIFA Ultimate Team is no exception to phishing attacks by savvy individuals or group.
It has been discovered that a new phishing scam involves a social media platform to be able to coax out from FIFA Ultimate Team players their Origin and Xbox Live login information: Instagram. The malware firm has earlier warned of a similar modus operandi on Twitter. In the new scam, Malwarebytes discovered that a fake Instagram account @easportsut2014 has been claiming to be an official account and channel of Electronic Arts, the makers of FIFA Ultimate Team. The account posts images that promotes Ultimate Team content with a link that when unsuspecting users click, would lead them to a phishing URL that would ask them to log in using their Origin or Xbox Live accounts to receive special upgraded versions of cards for athletes who perform well during the real-life World Cup. The Instagram account has around 8,800 Instagram followers.
Polygon said that FIFA 14 Ultimate Team: World Cup is also available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC, which might mean that there is a possibility that a phishing scam could also target the other video console users.
The result of the phishing scam is actually profitable, as scam artists who have said to have targeted Ultimate Team users have hijacked their Xbox Live and PlayStation Network accounts in previous years to build up a great collection of cards and then selling it at a profit, at the expense of the original account owners who would have to deal with the huge bills.
When the technology blog asked an EA representative about the Instagram account, he declined to comment on the matter. On the other hand, he insisted that the company has been making efforts to take down these kind of scams.
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