Do no trust the Chance To Win The Brand New Playstation 5 scam website
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is Chance To Win The Brand New Playstation 5 scam?
It is common that phishing pages look like other pages (e.g., official pages owned by legitimate companies). Most of the times, scammers behind these pages use one or another technique to trick unsuspecting users into providing sensitive information.
Usually, they attempt to extract information like login credentials such as email address, username, password, or credit card details, bank account numbers, social security numbers, or other personal details. It is worthwhile to mention that phishing websites often are promoted via email, text messages.
It is likely that this particular page is promoted via deceptive ads, other dubious pages, or potentially unwanted applications (PUAs).
This phishing website displays a notification claiming that a visitor has a chance to win the brand new Playstation 5. Although, there is the "CLAIM MY PLAYSTATION 5 NOW" button on the page suggesting that a visitor has already won the Playstation 5.
The main purpose of this page is to trick a visitor that the prize can be claimed by filling out a three-step form. More precisely, by providing information such as email address, phone, ZIP code, credit card details such as cardholder name, card number, expiration date, security code (CVV).
This is a scam website used to steal credit card details. There are no real prizes or winners (this page has fake comments from non-existing users).
It is important to know that the information this website asks to provide may be misused to steal identities, make unauthorized purchases, transactions, sold on hacker forums (to other cybercriminals), or used for other malicious purposes.
Therefore, it is strongly recommended not to provide any sensitive information on websites that raise suspicions. By providing such information on those pages, users risk losing money, having their personal accounts compromised, identities stolen, or encounter other serious issues.
In most cases, users do not visit fake lottery scams or other similar pages by themselves. One of the popular ways to promote such pages is through PUAs.
Users who have an app of this kind installed on a browser or the operating system should be aware that PUAs can be designed to generate advertisements and collect various information. They can be designed to display coupons, pop-up ads, surveys, banners, etc.
Usually, those ads conceal web content, advertise shady pages. In some cases, they are designed to execute certain scripts that cause unwanted downloads or even installations.
Examples of details that PUAs collect are Internet Protocol addresses, entered search queries, geolocations, addresses of visited websites, etc. Nevertheless, there are apps of this type that can access sensitive details.
It is important to know that gathered information could be sold to third parties (potentially cybercriminals), used for marketing purposes, or monetized using some other way.
Name | Chance To Win The Brand New Playstation 5 pop-up |
Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
Fake Claim | Visitors have been chosen to win Playstation 5 |
Symptoms | Suspicious bank account activities, problems while trying to access personal accounts |
Distribution methods | Compromised websites, rogue online pop-up ads, potentially unwanted applications. |
Damage | Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft |
Malware Removal (Windows) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. |
More examples of similar scam websites are "Google Membership Rewards", "Chrome Search Contest 2021", and "$1000 Bank of America Gift Card". Typically, they display fake notifications claiming that visitors have a chance to participate in a lottery/win some prize, or they have already won a prize.
Either way, most of these pages ask visitors to enter personal information. It is strongly recommended not to trust such websites, especially when they were not visited on purpose (got opened after visiting other shady pages, clicking on dubious ads, etc.).
As mentioned in the introduction paragraph, it is common for scam pages to be promoted through potentially unwanted applications.
How did potentially unwanted applications install on my computer?
Sometimes potentially unwanted applications are distributed via deceptive advertisements - by designing ads to cause unwanted downloads or installations by running certain scripts. However, more often, such apps are distributed by using a "bundling" method (by bundling those apps together with other programs.
In such cases, potentially unwanted apps can be found in downloaders, installers for other programs as additional offers. Typically, those unwanted offers can be declined via "Custom", "Advanced," and their other settings, or by unticking checkboxes.
When users complete downloads or installations without changing any settings, they end up having bundled apps downloaded or installed too.
How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?
Downloads from questionable sources like Peer-to-Peer networks (e.g., eMule, torrent clients), unofficial websites, third-party downloaders, etc., should not be opened.
Apps and files should be downloaded from official pages and using direct links because the aforementioned and similar sources can be used to distribute unwanted, malicious software.
The same applies to third-party installers. Furthermore, downloaders and installers that have options, settings like "Advanced", "Custom" should be checked for offers to download or install potentially unwanted applications. Those offers can and should be declined before finishing downloads and installations.
One more way to avoid unwanted downloads, installations is not to click ads that shady pages or installed PUAs display. Quite often, those ads are used to promote deceptive, dubious pages or distribute other unwanted programs.
Suspicious, unwanted extensions, plug-ins, or add-ons installed on a web browser and software of this kind installed on the operating system should be removed and never installed again.
If your computer is already infected with PUAs, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate them.
The appearance of Chance To Win The Brand New Playstation 5 pop-up scam (GIF):
Text in a message on this page:
Congratulations!
You Have Been Selected
main
Get a chance to win the brand new Playstation 5,
included in the digitalpa TrialCLAIM MY PLAYSTATION 5 NOW
Instant automatic malware removal:
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Quick menu:
- What is Chance To Win The Brand New Playstation 5 pop-up?
- How to identify a pop-up scam?
- How do pop-up scams work?
- How to remove fake pop-ups?
- How to prevent fake pop-ups?
- What to do if you fell for a pop-up scam?
How to identify a pop-up scam?
Pop-up windows with various fake messages are a common type of lures cybercriminals use. They collect sensitive personal data, trick Internet users into calling fake tech support numbers, subscribe to useless online services, invest in shady cryptocurrency schemes, etc.
While in the majority of cases these pop-ups don't infect users' devices with malware, they can cause direct monetary loss or could result in identity theft.
Cybercriminals strive to create their rogue pop-up windows to look trustworthy, however, scams typically have the following characteristics:
- Spelling mistakes and non-professional images - Closely inspect the information displayed in a pop-up. Spelling mistakes and unprofessional images could be a sign of a scam.
- Sense of urgency - Countdown timer with a couple of minutes on it, asking you to enter your personal information or subscribe to some online service.
- Statements that you won something - If you haven't participated in a lottery, online competition, etc., and you see a pop-up window stating that you won.
- Computer or mobile device scan - A pop-up window that scans your device and informs of detected issues - is undoubtedly a scam; webpages cannot perform such actions.
- Exclusivity - Pop-up windows stating that only you are given secret access to a financial scheme that can quickly make you rich.
Example of a pop-up scam:
How do pop-up scams work?
Cybercriminals and deceptive marketers usually use various advertising networks, search engine poisoning techniques, and shady websites to generate traffic to their pop-ups. Users land on their online lures after clicking on fake download buttons, using a torrent website, or simply clicking on an Internet search engine result.
Based on users' location and device information, they are presented with a scam pop-up. Lures presented in such pop-ups range from get-rich-quick schemes to fake virus scans.
How to remove fake pop-ups?
In most cases, pop-up scams do not infect users' devices with malware. If you encountered a scam pop-up, simply closing it should be enough. In some cases scam, pop-ups may be hard to close; in such cases - close your Internet browser and restart it.
In extremely rare cases, you might need to reset your Internet browser. For this, use our instructions explaining how to reset Internet browser settings.
How to prevent fake pop-ups?
To prevent seeing pop-up scams, you should visit only reputable websites. Torrent, Crack, free online movie streaming, YouTube video download, and other websites of similar reputation commonly redirect Internet users to pop-up scams.
To minimize the risk of encountering pop-up scams, you should keep your Internet browsers up-to-date and use reputable anti-malware application. For this purpose, we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
What to do if you fell for a pop-up scam?
This depends on the type of scam that you fell for. Most commonly, pop-up scams try to trick users into sending money, giving away personal information, or giving access to one's device.
- If you sent money to scammers: You should contact your financial institution and explain that you were scammed. If informed promptly, there's a chance to get your money back.
- If you gave away your personal information: You should change your passwords and enable two-factor authentication in all online services that you use. Visit Federal Trade Commission to report identity theft and get personalized recovery steps.
- If you let scammers connect to your device: You should scan your computer with reputable anti-malware (we recommend Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows) - cyber criminals could have planted trojans, keyloggers, and other malware, don't use your computer until removing possible threats.
- Help other Internet users: report Internet scams to Federal Trade Commission.
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