Beware: race organizers plagued by spammers’ “fake livestreams”

It’s not a new phenomenon on the internet, but within the triathlon world it has suddenly become very popular and race organizations including Ironman and Challenge Family have had to deal with it en masse in recent weeks: a number of fake accounts on social media that post messages under their posts that link to so-called “livestreams.” To access these streams you have to enter your credit card information. These “livestreams” do not actually exist and, when you fill in your credit card information, there is a good chance that cybercriminals will plunder your bank account fully or partially.

Both Ironman and Challenge Family regularly post messages in which they urge you to only watch livestreams through the official websites of the organizations. Those livestreams are usually free and (therefore) no credit card information is asked for.

Related

Comments