1500 fake movie-streaming sites found from April-June: Trend Micro

• More than 1,500 fake streaming sites found from late April to the end of June
• Scammers’ most popular bait were ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Fast & Furious 6’

SECURITY software company Trend Micro Inc found over 1,500 fake streaming sites that took advantage of recent summer box-office hits, based on data the company analysed from late April to the end of June.
 
The top two movie titles used to entice users to these fake sites were Man of Steel and Fast & Furious 6, which jointly accounted for almost half of the links it tracked, Trend Micro said in a statement.
 
The attackers drive users to the fake streaming pages through various social media sites, leading users to download suspicious video players, sign up for streaming sites, or take surveys that will generate financial gain for the scammers.
 
Trend Micro said it had detected some of these fake streaming sites before the movies were released in theatres.
 
“Summer blockbusters like Man of Steel are typical cybercrime bait because they have been effective in tricking users into visiting shady websites,” said Trend Micro SEA region managing director, Goh Chee Hoh.
 
“Be wary of sharing posts and clicking links that could propagate these scams. As these movies have just been released, copies that are supposedly being streamed online are either fake or pirated, the latter of which is, by itself, risky and illegal,” he added.
 
Targeting unsuspecting fans and film enthusiasts, the attackers use various social sites such as Facebook, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn, to bring users to the fake streaming pages, many of which are hosted on Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger or other blogging services, Trend Micro said.
 
Based on TrendLabs’ analysis, Man of Steel, Fast & Furious 6 and Iron Man 3 got the highest number of viewers. Many of the common keywords used were expected, such as “watch,” “online” and “free.” One of the more surprising keywords was “putlocker,” which refers to a UK-based file locker.
 
In terms of countries involved, while the United States accounted for more than two-thirds of the traffic to these sites.
 
Additional information about this can be found on the Trend Micro Blog here.
 
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