OREANDA-NEWS. Cybercriminals again increased activity on the network related to the coronavirus, according to Kaspersky Lab's Telegram channel: in June, the company's experts identified 14% more phishing Internet resources on this topic than in May.

"In the first half of 2021, the peak of fraudulent activity related to coronavirus occurred in March. However, despite the fact that after this, experts observed a slight decline for some time, in June, attackers again intensified: during this month, the company discovered and blocked 14% more phishing resources than a month earlier, "the message says.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, from March 2020 to July 2021, the company's experts have identified more than 5 thousand fraudulent sites related to the coronavirus. Specialists also prevented more than 1 million cases of users moving to these sites. One of the most common scam schemes is fake offers for various payments and COVID-19 tests at a discount.

"In most cases of fraud related to the topic of the pandemic, the goal of cybercriminals is to obtain user data. For this, phishing is often used: a user clicks on a link from an ad or letter and goes to a page where he is asked to enter personal information and bank card details." said Alexei Marchenko, Head of Content Filtering Methods Development Department at Kaspersky Lab.

"Having obtained such information, attackers can use it, for example, to steal money from accounts. Therefore, if you see a message about COVID-19, we recommend that you always double-check the information in official sources and do not leave your personal data on suspicious sites," he added.