Emirates, or sometimes referred to as Emirates Airlines, is a state-owned flag carrier based in Dubai, UAE (United Arab Emirates). Emirates is the largest airline service provider in the Middle East and fourth–largest in the world by revenue. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is owned and controlled by the Government of Dubai’s Investment Corporation of Dubai.
The airline has just issued a warning to its passengers: Beware of Phishing Email Scams.
Phishing.org defines phishing is a cyber–crime that targets people who are contacted by cyber-criminals via email, mobile phone, or SMS. They operate by luring victims into providing their personal information (name, address, birth date), bank account information, credit card details, and passwords.
According to the airline’s management, there are several phishing emails currently circulating that are specifically targeting their customers. The alleged phishing emails are impersonating Emirates headlining their emails and advising passengers that their flights have been canceled, and they should get their refund. The actual subject is something like – “Your flight is canceled: collect your refund.”
As soon as the unsuspecting passenger or victim opens the email message or clicks the links, the malware and injected scripts begin to work under the radar and start to collect sensitive information or install additional software onto the infected machine. Emirates has explicitly warned its passengers not to click links from unverified sources, especially those asking for their personal information.
Emirates Airline officials confirmed that the emails came from two (2) distinguished addresses:
During the last week of May, a public service advisory was issued by the Indian Consulate General in Dubai – certain airline personnel and travel agencies in the UAE have been reaching out to Indian Nationals to assist in their repatriation flights using charter facilities to India – and there’s an additional demand to pay in advance to accommodate airfare and quarantine expenditures. The Consulate has confirmed that the Indian Government had arranged no such flights. Moreover, all chartered repatriation flights will only be arranged through the Dubai Consulate.
In a similar incident, the Consulate General of Pakistan has received several complaints from Pakistani Nationals who have been receiving telephone calls and SMS from individuals claiming that they are from the Consulate. While there are some claiming that they are from travel companies, they have one thing in common – all of them are requesting advanced payments for priority repatriation flights.
It became worse when several Pakistani Nationals started arriving at the airport and stated that they are there for their repatriation flight, not knowing that the ticket they purchased was a scam. Similar to the Indian Consulate, all Pakistani Nationals were advised to transact with personnel from the Consulate General and no one else. As of this writing, warnings and advisories continue to circulate to ensure safety and security for all passengers.
