How did a phishing scheme exploit fans of actor Katrina Kaif in 2010?

In August 2010, a phishing scheme targeted fans of the actor Katrina Kaif by exploiting their interest in her public image. Attackers lured users to a website that falsely promised to display a revealing photograph of the actress.1

Once visitors accessed the site, they were automatically redirected to a well-known social-networking platform. The site then prompted the users to enter their login credentials and passwords. By deceiving fans into providing this sensitive information, the attackers successfully completed the phishing expedition.1

This incident is categorized as a semantic cyberattack, or social engineering, which focuses on manipulating human perception to gain unauthorized access to data. Such methods are primarily employed to conduct criminal activity or espionage by exploiting the trust of users.1