Free Virgin Atlantic tickets? No, it’s a WhatsApp scam
I received a WhatsApp message on Friday that piqued my interest – 2 free tickets on Virgin Atlantic!
Free tickets! For every family!
It had to be a scam.
According to the message, Virgin Atlantic was giving away two free tickets per family in celebration of its 35th anniversary. It sounded far too good to be true and, as any regular reader of Digital Security can tell you, that means it probably is far too good to be true.
I took a closer look. A much closer look.
The URL looks legit, like it must belong to Virgin Atlantic, right?
Wrong.
Take a closer look and zoom in on the “r” in “Virgin” – see the dot underneath?
The “r” is in fact an “ṛ”, which, in the words of Wikipedia:
Instead of a free luxury holiday we’ve found ourselves a highly deceitful SMS scam. You’re asked to share the WhatsApp message with 20 friends or groups using a handy button. You’re then led to a separate website that tells you “you’re just one step away” and asks for more personal information.
What to Do?
Be vigilant! The attack tries to make itself plausible by using a website domain name that looks real and by coming from people you know. (Although the version that I saw arrived via WhatsApp it’s also been spotted on Facebook).
Your best defence is a combination of mobile security and a clear understanding that if you get a WhatsApp message, tweet, Facebook post, email or other unsolicited message that seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Free tickets! For every family!
It had to be a scam.
According to the message, Virgin Atlantic was giving away two free tickets per family in celebration of its 35th anniversary. It sounded far too good to be true and, as any regular reader of Digital Security can tell you, that means it probably is far too good to be true.
The URL looks legit, like it must belong to Virgin Atlantic, right?
Wrong.
Take a closer look and zoom in on the “r” in “Virgin” – see the dot underneath?
- Ṛ (minuscule: ṛ) is a letter of the Latin alphabet, formed from R with the addition of a dot below the letter. It is used in the transliteration of Afro-Asiatic languages to represent an “emphatic r”.
Instead of a free luxury holiday we’ve found ourselves a highly deceitful SMS scam. You’re asked to share the WhatsApp message with 20 friends or groups using a handy button. You’re then led to a separate website that tells you “you’re just one step away” and asks for more personal information.
What to Do?
Be vigilant! The attack tries to make itself plausible by using a website domain name that looks real and by coming from people you know. (Although the version that I saw arrived via WhatsApp it’s also been spotted on Facebook).
Your best defence is a combination of mobile security and a clear understanding that if you get a WhatsApp message, tweet, Facebook post, email or other unsolicited message that seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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