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Airline urges social media users not to fall for phishing scam circulating on Facebook
Dubai: Emirates airline on Monday said that it is investigating an online scam being circulated on social media.
In response to queries by Gulf News, the airline said that it is aware of phishing attempts luring unsuspecting users to click on fraudulent items such as a survey to potentially gain access to users’ smartphones and computers.
Malicious phishing works by inviting users to click on a link which when pressed, gives permission of sorts to illegally hack into a user’s online device resulting in everything from identity theft to draining a person’s bank account or credit cards.
The latest phishing scam doing the rounds on Facebook presents itself as an Emirates survey asking three questions, including ‘Have you ever been a traveller with us?’
It offers two free air tickets to those who participate. Featuring a large logo of Emirates in the centre of the page, the scam reads: “Congratulations! You have been selected to take part in our short survey to get two free Emirates tickets. We only have 332 tickets remaining so hurry up.”
The fake survey is dated May 29.
“Emirates has become aware of fraudulent websites purporting to come from the company claiming to offer free airline tickets to those who take an online survey,” said an Emirates spokesperson.
“We advise anyone not to click on any links or share these links on social media. Emirates is investigating the source of the scam and will take appropriate legal action against the perpetrators,” the spokesperson said.
© Gulf News 2017
