The Indian Grand Prix Formula One race will kick off on October 20, 2011 at Buddh International Circuit located in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. This is the first ever F1 race that is taking place in India, and youngsters are all ready to empty their pockets to watch the F1 race live in Noida.
With just one month to go, the event has caught a lot of attention in the media, especially in the online social media. Cyber criminals are sure to take advantage of this buzz that is being created, and may send out scam messages claiming that you have won a free ticket to watch the F1 race.
One such message, reported by an Indian commercial broadcasting television network stated that Hemant Mehta Agarwal received an SMS which said that the F1 organizers have selected him as a lucky winner to watch the game. However, he discovered that the message was fraud when he called back to the number to claim his reward.
Another message received by a user indicated – “You have won a free Formula-1 ticket in the India Grand prix mobile draw promo. To claim your prize, send your name and address via mail to [email protected]”
It is common that such messages are sent across by scammers to try their luck in earning some money. There are scam messages which ask users to enter credit card or bank details in order to claim the reward. Vivek Vohra, a Delhi-based cyber-crime expert states that – “During big events like this, such spam messages are circulated, taking advantage of people’s curiosity. There are various promotions going on related to Formula-1. We suggest enthusiast buy tickets from authentic sources. Attacking users via mobile is something new here and it is yet to attract many more potential targets,”.
Such messages are mainly targeted via SMS. The second most popular medium is Facebook. Although there aren’t any scams reported yet, but we’re expecting that they will start to appear sometime next month. Scams and hoax messages on Facebook spread like wildfire. I recommend you to go through Guide to Facebook Security, which will definitely help you tackle scam messages. The document is available for free and you can download a copy of it from the Facebook Security Page.
Please remember that there are no F1 ticket giveaways. However, there are certain contests which are running, but are from reputed brands. Make sure that you don’t fall for this trap, and verify the contest details before taking part in it.
