Ads with fake CBC articles have flooded the social media platform X in recent weeks. The ads are designed to attract Canadians to a sophisticated scam that uses Russian Internet infrastructure, according to CBC News.
The Visual Research Unit of CBC News has investigated both the Internet infrastructure behind the advertisements, leading from a Barrie, Ontario supplier, the Netherlands, to Russia, as well as the counterfeit accounts of local businesses that share the advertisements .
Dozens of accounts in X, previously Twitter, have shared the ads, which often present sensational headlines centered on conservative leader Pierre Poilievre or the leader of the NDP Jagmeet Singh.
If a user clicks on the Poilievre announcement, for example, it is taken to a False CBC-style article that presents a false transcription of an interview between the conservative leader and Guy Lepage, the host of the Radio-Canadá program TOUT LE MONDE IN PARLE.
In the transcription published in the article, Pailievre explains how he used a platform called “Quantum Ai Pro” to generate wealth.
“If you don’t believe me, give me 300 Canadian dollars and I’ll make you a million in 3-4 months!” Pailievre says in the fictional article.
The false ads that the news sources imitate, including CBC, are at all X that offer Get-Rich-Cick investment councils. The visual research team of CBC News cavó in the ads to obtain more information about who made them.
The Australian man lost more than $ 72,000
The Quantum AI page tells visitors how Bitcoin can make them rich, and contains a section that explains that it is not a scam. The registration takes users to another page, where they are asked to communicate with a customer service worker to deposit money.
False ads have been seen with “quantum”, or similar variations, Hong Kong, Australia and the United Kingdom. They often use high profile celebrities, politicians or media figures in false ads.
In one case, an Australian man lost more than $ 72,000 in a Similar scheme, according to the competence regulator of that country. Police in Hamilton, Ontario, He also warned of Quantum AI In 2023, calling it an “investment scam.” The Canadian investment regulatory organization, meanwhile, has warned Canadians about Ai quantum “fraudsters”.
The Canadian Anti-Francud center said in a statement that most investment scams reports involve a cryptocurrency scheme that originates from an online ad.
The complex infrastructure of the Internet begins with this address in Barrie, Ontario.
CBC News investigated Internet infrastructure behind false ads. Two websites that host the fake CBC -style items have an IP address registered in an Internet provider, Velcom, in Barrie, ONT.
When comments were requested, the Velcom CEO said the company did not know about the scam and no longer uses its IP addresses for telecommunications, but that it creates different businesses through an intermediary, a Texas -based company called IPXO IPXO .
IPXO did not respond to the request for comments of CBC News by deadline.
The server that houses the site is in the Netherlands, although until October, it was based on the Moscow area. The website name server still dates back to St. Petersburg, Russia. This does not necessarily mean that scammers are Russians.
‘Why us?’ FALSIFIED LEGITIMATE COMMERCIAL ACCOUNTS
CBC News also investigated the accounts that shared the fake CBC style ads. At first glance, they seem to be accounts owned by small businesses in the United States and the United Kingdom, however, several companies contacted by CBC News said they were being to go through
For example, an X account that claims to be Gunter Creative, a graphic design company with headquarters near Houston shared the announcement. But, contacted by CBC News, the company confirmed that they do not have a real Twitter or X account. One of the owners has an account under a different user name, but the couple, Jenny and JD Gunter, told CBC News that It is rarely used and does not promote your business.
“[We thought] Is this real? “JD Gunter said in an interview.
“And why us?” Jenny Ginter said. “It’s not that we have many followers or celebrities. I don’t understand why not only believe something totally from nothing, why do they have to steal the real things of someone?”
“The word that came to mind for possible explanations is legitimacy,” JD said, and pointed out that the Hazedora account had been linked to its real website. “If someone clicks on that, he goes and can see a photo of us. I guess we save them a lot of time trying to look legitimate.”
The previous instances of cryptocurrency scams in X have been based on masses of pirated accounts that were created years ago. But in what seems to be a new wrinkle, the vast majority of accounts that share the announcement seen by CBC News were created in January 2025 and pass up real businesses.
X has a function for users to report supplant accounts. The Gunters said they reported that the account imitates their business, and was suspended on Friday.
The accounts that share the announcement were subscribed to X Premium, which means that in addition to any income made through the ads themselves, each false account is also paying x at least $ 8.75 Per month: potentially hundreds of dollars each month, only for ads seen by CBC News.
X did not respond to a request for comments from CBC News.
