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Cybercrime Soars in Morocco: Scammers Exploit Earthquake Relief Efforts

In a shocking revelation, cybercriminals have been caught exploiting the recent earthquake relief efforts in Morocco by impersonating the French Red Cross and selling fake relief equipment.

The Scheme

The scammers registered two domains, croixrougefrancaise.fr and alerteseisme.fr, which redirected to a fraudulent website selling “fraternity tents” purportedly meant for earthquake victims. The domain name croixrougefrancaise.fr was registered on September 2023, but a closer look revealed that it had been used twice before, from August 2021 to August 2022 and from January 2008 to December 2013.

How the Scammers Worked

The scammers’ scheme worked as follows:

• Users would select products, add them to their shopping basket, and proceed to payment, where they would be asked to provide credit card information, shipping address, and email address.
• This allowed cybercriminals to obtain personally identifiable information (PII), which could lead to monetary theft.

Other Forms of Fraud

But that’s not all - a Facebook page was also created on the same day the domain names were registered, promoting earthquake detectors and redirecting users to the fraternity tent page. The scammers even asked for donations on LinkedIn.

Importance of Domain Monitoring

Domain monitoring is crucial in preventing such scams, as cybercriminals will take advantage of any opportunity to make money. Organizations must monitor their domain names to ensure they are not being used fraudulently.

Best Practices for Domain Monitoring

To detect and prevent phishing attacks, organizations can follow these best practices:

• Monitor your domain names regularly
• Keep essential information up-to-date in the “Whois” database
• Set alerts on domain expiration to prevent fraudsters from abusing it
• Never drop domain names that contain full brand names

By following these best practices, organizations can protect their brand and keep phishing threats at bay.

Call to Action

The Moroccan government and authorities must take swift action to prevent such cybercrimes from continuing to exploit innocent people’s desperation during times of crisis. The public is advised to be wary of websites used to collect donations in times of calamities, even if their domain names appear legitimate.