Visitors to Parc Astérix thinking of buying entry tickets were scammed by the creators of a fake park website. This is the principle of the mirror site scam, a very widespread practice but easy to unmask.
On Tuesday January 21, the management of Parc Astérix announced that they were filing a complaint after discovering that they were the victim of a scam that began last December. She calls on her visitors to be vigilant in the face of possible mishaps when booking tickets.
In fact, the scam in question is nicknamed “mirror site scam”. That is to say, hackers replicate the web page of a site identically but under a different domain name. In the case of the amusement park, the original URL is: parkasterix.fr. But, it is possible that the mirror sites were renamed leparcasterix.fr or even parcasterix.com.
Mirror sites: a well-crafted scam
Since then, park management has announced to AFP that it has identified the mirror sites and closed them in collaboration with the competent authorities. In theory, it is therefore no longer possible to come across a fake Parc Astérix site, but vigilance remains essential. Knowing that the total number of visitors scammed was not communicated by the amusement park.
In more detail, a mirror site is characterized in several ways. Beyond copying the URL of its target, it will partially or almost entirely repeat what is displayed on the web page, even going as far as the payment box (as was the case for the Park’s mirror sites). Asterix). In other cases, “these sites are likely to contain content relating to infringements” such as the spread of “hateful content or advocating terrorism”, precise Legifrance.
Faced with such practices, it is strongly recommended to find out about the right reflexes to have. So, check carefully that the URL of the site is correct before making any online purchase. To ensure this, it is possible to compare the domain name with the one that comes up when searching for a company or brand on a search engine. Also choose to go to a site via a secure search engine and not click on sponsored links or links appearing in spam.