Iwona Prószyńska, CERT Polska specialist, explained that the main goal of cybercriminals is to extort data or money. Articles on fake sites encourage investments that are actually scams.
Fraudsters use social engineering. Fake celebrity advertisements are a real plague
The use of photoshopped photos of celebrities and impersonating news portals by fraudsters has a specific goal. “All this to make the story behind this ad credible. If a famous, authoritative person could make a huge fortune by investing supposedly small amounts, why shouldn’t I try? These ads look quite innocent and usually direct us to articles that are written very well. Social engineering elements are used,” explains Iwona Prószyńska.
When browsing social media, every time you click on a link to external sites, it is worth checking the domain address carefully. Cybercriminals create fake information portals that are almost identical to the real ones, sometimes only the address and details differ.
It is worth reporting false advertising. CERT can block them
Fake scam websites can be reported to the CERT Polska team. “We should definitely report them. Why? Because such a website will be blocked for other network users, so no one will be able to provide or enter their data there. In this way, we will protect other people from the consequences of this fraud, so this action is very valuable to us.” – explained Iwona Prószyńska. CERT Polska, as part of cooperation with Internet providers, has the ability to block domains that steal data.
In turn, the ads or posts on the X platform and Facebook can be reported to the administrators of these websites. In Iwona Prószyńska’s opinion, it is worth doing this to highlight the problem. In the case of the X platform, a new option to report advertising fraud has recently appeared, entitled “Report illegal content in the EU”. This is related to the entry into force of the EU DSA regulation – otherwise known as the Digital Services Act. In theory, the regulations are intended to increase user safety online and support the fight against illegal content. In Poland, the government is working on adapting national law to DSA. According to the Ministry of Digitization, they will be completed in mid-year.
Source: Gazeta
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