Security News > 2021 > August > Kanye's upcoming album is a scam magnet, Kaspersky finds
With Kanye West's latest album, "Donda," due out imminently, cybersecurity company Kaspersky has taken the time to investigate whether cybercriminals were taking advantage of the hype to spread malicious files, a la "Black Widow." It found that, while the number of scams wasn't huge, they do exist and take several different forms.
In the case of Kanye's latest release, Kaspersky found fake downloads just like those found in the days immediately preceding the release of "Black Widow." Two particular adware files were named by Kaspersky, Download-File-KanyeWestDONDA320.
Along with the usual fake downloads, Kaspersky also noticed several different scam websites were using various methods to trick people into clicking malicious links, providing personal information and otherwise being phished out of valuable personal details.
Kaspersky said, "Users receive a link to download the 'album', and are asked to participate in a survey and confirm they are not a robot." Upon completion, users are redirected to a website promising they can make money on bitcoin.
"Of course, the link to the album never appears, and if users fall for the offer of becoming a bitcoin millionaire and enter personal data, they may lose their money and not get access to the album," Kaspersky said.
In speaking about scams surrounding the "Black Widow" release, Kaspersky security expert Anton V. Ivanov warned that fraudsters and cybercriminals love to take advantage of hype and excitement around media releases and the inattentiveness that many people have when trying to find a way to see it first.