Indian Orkut Accounts Compromised For Phishing

According to McAfee Avert Labs, as Web 2.0-based social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace increase in popularity, their users too are increasingly proving as convenient attack points for identity scams and other online frauds. Recently, hackers, online scammers and other cyber-criminals have been using Twitter as well to phish off private data from Web surfers.

Aside these websites, another social networking site that cyber-criminals prefer to use is Orkut, which probably represents the most widely visited and popular social networking site across the Indian sub-continent. As a matter of fact, reports state that over 15% of Orkut traffic flows from India.

Consequently, phishers have devised a stylish approach i.e. in light of a huge population of Indian users favoring Orkut but being insufficiently tech-savvy, phishers and other online scammers have secured control over their accounts through the act of hijacking the Orkut networking accounts of these India-based users.

Seemingly, phishers have modified these accounts' user profiles, connecting them to their different fraudulent (phishing) websites that entice users into revealing their private details.

For instance, these phishing sites could pretend to be Orkut in its adult version. Meanwhile, it is reported that the fake Orkut website on sex-related content named "Orkut Sex" has met with ongoing success in enticing numerous Orkut members into feeding personal user identifications into the bogus site. Accordingly, when these identification details come into the hands of scammers, the latter use them to harvest other private details of the users and subsequently make illegal money transfers.

McAfee Avert Labs, meanwhile, has observed an array of phishing sites related to Orkut namely http://orkutst[blocked].tk, http://orkutsexlogi[blocked].tk, http://priya[blocked].freehostia.com, http://s3x[blocked].kilu.de and http://album[blocked].kilu.de.

Thus, security experts at McAfee once again repeat for end-users that they mustn't disclose their monetary or any other personal information online, especially on websites such as Orkut. They also reiterate that users must ensure for all protective measures, in place, on their computers, while avoiding all forms of phishing sites.

Moreover, users on Orkut, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites must make themselves aware of the botherations they might encounter if a malicious spam or phishing attack chases them.

Related article: Indian Financial Industry Facing Rising Online Fraud

» SPAMfighter News - 7/3/2009