False CBC news articles that are linked to incomplete investment schemes are flooding social networks with sensational headlines on Canadian elections and other recent political developments.
The CBC visual research unit reported on A similar scam at the end of JanuaryWhere false articles attracted the victims to Quantum AI, a well -known fraud. But this latest generation of false content has been updated to take advantage of the new events with surprising speed. A false article that refers to a federal initiative of tariff help is dated March 23 – Prime Minister Mark Carly made a similar announcement days beforeMarch 21.
After CBC News communicated with the Facebook Metriz Metrix and the Toronto company that organized one of the website’s domains, several of the Facebook accounts behind the ads were disabled and a domain of the website was suspended.
Click one of Facebook’s ads takes the user to a realistic -looking CBC news article. (Other media have also been falsified, although most of the ads seen by CBC News intended to show an article of the public broadcaster). However, keep reading, and articles promote an investment scheme of “zero risk” cryptocurrencies.
In one case, Facebook ads even presented a deep video generated by AI from CBC Rosemary Barton journalist, as well as Elon Musk and Carney. In the false video, Carney says that the government has certified the security of the alleged investment product and that “none of the investors will lose their money.”
“All you need is to invest $ 350 and start earnings of the first month,” said the deep prime minister. Deepfake was created using an originally taken video taken from the Liberal Leadership Dispourage speech in January.
“There will not be a decrease in the number of these soon, particularly with the elections,” said Marissa Sollows, communications director of the Financial Services and Consumers Commission again Brunnswick, who issued warnings about the scheme this month.
“We are undoubtedly working with our national and international counterparts, regulatory counterparts and application personnel to examine all kinds of different ways in which we can consider the interruption and awareness of this, recognizing that it is such a What-A-A-Mole game. When one takes off one, 10 more emerging.”
Variety of linked commercial platforms
Each false article directs readers to a realistic -looking commercial platform, such as Canada Crypto Fund, Truenorth or Token Tact.
The New Brunswick FCSC issued warnings about the three entities in March, warning that “they are not registered to treat or advise on New Brunswick.”
False items were often lodged under strange and unrelated URLs, for example, marslandjournal.com or gossipgiraffes.com, while some were more convincing, such as CBC-politics.com.
One of CBC News investigated ads was published by a Facebook page called “Tokens Ailive”. When clicking on the links in the article, CBC News to two different sites that claim to be negotiation platforms at two different moments.
Commercial sites then ask users to make a minimum deposit, usually several hundred dollars, to start operating, either by sending credit card information or calling a representative.
That process It looks a lot like quantum ai previously investigated by CBC News.
‘The scammers use all the available platforms:’ Meta
CBC News also analyzed the websites organized by articles and negotiation platforms.
Cloudflare, an important Internet firm based in the United States. The company did not respond to the request for CBC comments.
One of the sites recorded its domain name with Tucows, a company based in Toronto. After CBC News contacted Tucows, the company suspended the domain.
Madeleine Stoesser, senior corporate communications manager of Tucows, clarified that the company uses a wholesale model. That means that the owner of the website bought the domain from a revenuer. “We work in close collaboration with our resellers to address problems similar to this domain,” Stoesser told CBC News.
During the investigation, CBC News saw false ads shared by the articles listed, and in some cases deleted, from the Meta Ads Library, an advertisement database that is executed on target platforms that were created to address transparency concerns.
CBC News contacted Meta to make comments and provided several additional examples of pages sharing false ads. Goal said in a statement that the company had eliminated the Facebook CBC News advertisements marked and deactivated the accounts that shared them.
“This is a continuous challenge throughout the industry: scammers use all platforms available for them and constantly adapt to evade application. Our work in this area is never done, and we continue to invest in new technologies and methods to protect people on our scam platforms,” said the spokesman in a statement.
The RCMP, together with the administrators of Canadian Securities and the Canadian Anti-Franud center, noted in a recent statement A specific concern with “the growing prevalence and sophistication of online investment scams.” Investment fraud cost the Canadians $ 310 million in 2024, organizations said.
The CSA said that, for the first time, “the scams among the youngest Canadians have had an upward trend.”
Ryan Duquette, national leader of digital forensics in MNP, a consulting firm, told CBC News that several problems hinder the capacity of social media companies and the application of the law to take energetic measures against schemes like these.
“It is very, very challenging. [It’s] So multifaceted among the social networks that their investigations carry out and maybe the police also conduct their investigations, “said Duquette.
We are still tracking ads like this. If you see something suspicious, you can contact ask@cbc.ca. You can also learn what to do about it here. And goal has yours Anti-SCAM information.
