Austrian NGO warns of fraud scams during global IT outages

By Timo Kirez

GENEVA (AA) - Watchlist Internet, an Austrian NGO, warns of fraud scams during global IT outages.

As the organization announced in a press release on Tuesday, criminals are using IT outages, such as those caused by CrowdStrike, to make fake calls and emails.

The NGO recommends not installing unknown programs or disclosing personal data.

Last Friday, July 19, a faulty update to the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor software from Microsoft put thousands of Windows devices worldwide out of action.

The glitch caused widespread disruption at airports, almost paralyzing air traffic in many places. Supermarkets, banks, hospitals, television stations and other facilities were also affected.

Even though the errors have since been rectified, criminals are still using the IT problems as a pretext, according to Watchlist Internet.

The criminals pretend to be customer service employees from Crowdstrike or Microsoft and call phone numbers at random, according to the NGO.

In their calls, they claim that the device is affected by the “CrowdStrike incident” and that further action is required.

The person on the phone then offers their help to solve the problem together, the NGO continues.

In reality, according to Watchlist Internet, the criminals try to access the system under this pretext and install malware.

Subsequently, access data to various accounts as well as bank and credit card details are stolen.

Watchlist Internet advises affected users to end the call immediately and hang up.

According to the organization, neither Microsoft nor CrowdStrike call personally to solve IT problems.

The organization also assumes that cyber criminals will also send phishing emails in the name of Microsoft or CrowdStrike.

In such a case, the organization recommends first checking the sender's address and points out that phishing emails can often be recognized by an implausible email address.

In addition, a link in an email is always suspicious, Watchlist Internet continues. The NGO strongly advises against clicking on these links.

Computer users should also be careful with attachments, Watchlist Internet recommends, and advises scanning them with an antivirus program beforehand.