An online scam has been circulating more and more on the web in recent weeks and could soon affect French Internet users using Windows computers.
If you use a computer that runs Windows, you must be extra vigilant. Indeed, according to the cybersecurity company Kaspersky, fake “captcha” scams are circulating more and more on the web in order to be able to recover personal or financial data, indicates BFMTV.
What is a captcha test?
“Captcha” (acronym for “Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart”) is a security device on the web, known when you are asked to confirm “I am not a robot”.
“This measure helps protect your account from spam and prevents any attempt to decrypt your password by subjecting you to a simple test to verify that it is indeed a human and not a computer trying to access the account”explain Google.
140,000 fraudulent advertisements
For several weeks, Internet users have been confronted with a scam. This takes the form of false advertising across the entire page when the person wants to go to certain sites, generally online casinos or download sites.
This is when you are asked to complete the “captcha” and enter a Windows terminal code. It is at this precise moment that the virus operates and installs itself on the computer in order to take the desired data such as passwords.
For the moment, the scam, which can even take the form of Google Chrome, is taking place in several countries around the world, mainly Russia, Brazil, Spain and Italy. If for the moment France does not yet seem affected, this could change in the days or weeks to come.
Attackers are getting creative with #malware distribution—a fake CAPTCHA as the infection vector!ud83dudea8
Initially targeting gamers via cracked game sites, this campaign now spreads beyond #gaming to adult sites, file-sharing services, betting platforms, and more.
Our latest… pic.twitter.com/fZytG3gZ9z
— Kaspersky (@kaspersky) https://twitter.com/kaspersky/status/1853999509694521459?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
No less than 140,000 fraudulent advertisements have been identified, indicates the news channel.
France
