Wow, great, amazing. Fraudsters imitate well-known websites, and the comments are also fake

Recently, fraudsters have also tried several times to spoof the news website iDNES.cz. One of the attempts involved a newly created page that imitated the appearance of the iDNES.cz website and lured readers to a “big scandal”, which was supposed to be a stormy conversation between actor Jakub Prachar and moderator Honza Dědek.

The fake website could really confuse the reader at first glance, it contained a photo and the name of the editor Petr Kolář, the colors of iDNES or even comments under the article. In the article, which was written in imperfect Czech, there were several references to the alleged investment platform Immediate Edge, the whole “stormy conversation” eventually really turned to investments, which were discussed by artificially created profiles in the fake comment section.

“I registered last week and already earned 11340 CZK! I recommend it to everyone,” writes a fictitious account under the name Zoe Vacková. “Your journalist earned very little during the days of the experiment, I earn as much in a day as your editor in those four days,” describes a fake profile named Břetislav Doskočil under the article.

Fake president and owner of Slavia

Among other things, fraudsters try to lure money out of people by imitating serious websites, the links lead to a login page, from which they try to get as much personal data as possible from readers. They then abuse them, for example, to access internet banking, from which they “extract” people’s money.

There are more options for imitating established websites, fraudsters also often use social networks on which they create paid posts (these have a greater reach and are seen by more people than unpaid posts) masquerading as serious media, from which users get again only to fake sites.

The modus operandi is often repeated: a catchy headline, a photo of a famous person, and a prominent link to click on and “learn more.”

In addition to fake websites, so-called deepfake videos are also popular among fraudsters. In recent months, for example, many celebrities have appeared on the Czech Internet who allegedly invested in an investment portal called Immediate Matrix and earned a lot of money. In addition to ANO chairman Andrej Babiš, for example the head of ČEZ Daniel Beneš, tennis player Petra Kvitová, former ambassador to the USA Michael Žantovský or businessman Pavel Tykač.

The scenario is always the same. The link from the networks redirects you to a fake news portal and then to a fraudulent investment site.

All the actors have in common that there are many photos and videos of them on the Internet because they are public figures. This makes it easier for fraudsters to clone their image and sound. But all those who share their personal lives on the Internet and do not pay attention to security rules are potentially at risk.

Mysterious letter

On Friday, the Security Information Service also reported on the misuse of its name on the X network. Fraudsters are sending people a letter signed by Czech counterintelligence on the Internet. “Fake news is not very good. The document uses the BIS symbol, but at the same time the stamp of the French police, the text also shows signs of the use of a translator. Nevertheless, we warn against any response to such fraudulent letters,” BIS warns.