Beware: how online scammers are taking advantage of ‘Barbie’ mania

nypost.com:

celebrity makeover artists aren’t the only ones cashing in on the success of the “Barbie” movie.Cybersecurity experts are warning of online scammers using the summer blockbuster’s cachet to steal bank info from legions of pink-pilled moviegoers.“Cybercriminals are always on the lookout for opportunities to make phishing and other scams more attractive and believable,” Steve Grobman, chief technology officer of software security firm McAfee, said on the company’s blog. “They often leverage popular and well-publicized events such as movie premieres, concerts, or sporting events to trick users into clicking on malicious links.”The cybersecurity company reports it has documented 100 new instances of malware with “Barbie-related filenames” in the last three weeks alone — with 37% of them occurring in the US.Scammers are purportedly looking to make big bucks off the Greta Gerwig-directed comedy, which landed at No.

1 at the box office with $70.5 million in sales in its first two days.These digital Trojan horses include malware masquerading as film downloads, “Barbie”-related viruses and bogus videos that advertise free tickets but instead pull up links that hijack personal info with spyware.“The videos will direct potential victims to a Discord server or a website,” McAfee writes. “There, attackers prompt visitors to download a large size .exe file.