As the start of the Summer Olympics in London nears, consumers need to be on the lookout for malware creators and scammers trying to make a quick buck off of the festivities, reports Naked Security.

The demand for London 2012 tickets has been extremely high. This gives a leeway for cyber criminals to scam, steal and swindle your personal information. They know consumers are too willing to spend to get their hands of the tickets and see the event live. With the recent upsurge in internet ticket sales, these criminals are trying all they can to do so; setting up fake websites, bad links and search engine optimization attacks to meet the demand with fake tickets.
 
Reflecting back on the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China was subjected to approximately 12 million online attacks per day. Within two months after the Beijing Olympic closing ceremony, cyber criminals began launching campaigns using 2012 London Summer Olympic theme. Trend Micro has spotted a spammed message alleging to be a lottery drawn by the London 2012 Olympics committee.

In May 2011, there was also reports about a spam campaign reported that used London 2012 Olympics as bait. These “campaigns” offer online deals that look like they are too good to be true, suspicious email messages promoting great but non-existent offers are also some of the tools used to lure users.

All these tactics may lead to you inadvertently giving out your personal information, or malware to be downloaded on your computer. Users dreaming of watching the closing ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympics live may find the said offer hard to resist as Visa Golden Space is supposedly inviting users to join a lottery for a chance to win a travel package for the said event. Note that the said offer is non-existent.

In preparation of the Olympic Games, consumers need to keep their eyes peeled for fraudulent emails. Spammers might send emails suggesting that consumers have “won” anything from free tickets to free memorabilia, to even directing consumers to malicious Olympic-related websites through emails which may pretend to be official Olympic-related communications.

Tips if you are considering seeing the Olympics live, not via satellite:

• You should always check the official Olympics site: www.london2012.com for all official information about the Games, this includes where and how to buy your ticket.
• Before clicking on that email link, investigate!
• If you receive an email that looks 'phishy', don’t click on any links and make sure to delete the email and run a virus scan immediately.

For more online safety tips from the Olympic Committee, please go to : http://www.london2012.com/stay-safe-online/