SINGAPORE: A phishing scam that purportedly offers free Qatar Airways tickets is still circulating on WhatsApp, a month after the airline alerted members of the public about its existence.
Some WhatsApp users have been receiving a message that says "Qatar Airways is giving two free tickets to every family to celebrate its 25th anniversary".
AdvertisementLast month, Qatar Airways released a statement on its Twitter account alerting members of the public about the "fake anniversary offer".
"It has come to our attention that members of the public are receiving a link that appears to be from Qatar Airways or any of the subsidiaries of the Qatar Airways Group, where it falsely states they can book travel tickets as part of an anniversary promotion," said the statement.
"Please note that such a link may come from unknown domains that mimic an official Qatar Airways website, and may ask you to reply to share information to claim an offer.
"Such links are phishing scams that could compromise your personal information. These are false offers requesting that you share it before unlocking the offer."
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe fake website uses the www.qatarairwąys.com URL. Many might not notice that it contains the character "ą", whereas the airline's real URL is Access Denied.
Users who enter the fake website are first shown the number of "free tickets" remaining, and asked to take part in a survey.
Upon answering all the questions in the survey, users are required to share the link to 15 friends/groups via WhatsApp before they are allowed to "claim" the "free tickets".
"Any Qatar Airways Group related communication will always be sent from an official domain," Qatar Airways had said in its statement last month.
"We highly recommend that you report such fraudulent attempts with details to [email protected]."
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