Crypto Scammers Impersonate BIRN’s Reporting Democracy Website

Sponsored content on Facebook leads to a fake Reporting Democracy interview with a famous football player from North Macedonia, all intended to lure users to give their personal data to a cryptocurrency scam.

By Sinisa Jakov Marusic

Social media users in North Macedonia are being targeted by fake articles impersonating legitimate websites, in an attempt to lure them into a cryptocurrency trading scheme. BIRN’s own Reporting Democracy is among the websites being impersonated by the scammers.

Police in North Macedonia had already issued a warning for users to be careful of such suspicious content, saying such schemes impersonating legitimate websites and displaying clickbait content have been active for at least the past two weeks.

In the case of BIRN’s Reporting Democracy, the targeted users are being encouraged to click on a fake website through a paid ad on Facebook. The fake website is using the same logo and branding as the original site, and contains a made-up interview with the famous Macedonian football player, Goran Pandev.

The catchy headline reads: “The Central Bank of Macedonia Sues Goran Pandev for His Statements on Live Television”.

The fake content then relates how Reporting Democracy was able to obtain a now-deleted live video interview with the football star, in which Pandev, not knowing that he is being recorded, slips out about how he got rich fast by trading cryptocurrency.

The fake article soon starts promoting crypto-trading sites that allegedly made the football player rich and led to the central bank going after him.

Through these fake web pages, users are directed to three alleged platforms for cryptocurrency trading: Nearest Edge, Bitapp24 and Immediate codex.

After opening the website with the alleged trading platform, users are directed to a login that requires the entry of personal data such as name, email and phone number, after which users receive information that “the order” has been placed.

Immediately after that, the sites ask for data from the user’s bank card and the user is asked to buy crypto-currency, with a note written in a smaller font notifying them that they accept the risk of trading.

Other websites and popular entertainment sites in North Macedonia have also been recently impersonated by the same scheme.

North Macedonia’s Police department for computer crime last week issued a warning to internet users, saying this scam has been going on for at least the past two weeks in North Macedonia.

However, the police said this is part of a wider scheme targeting European audiences, and that the content of these sponsored ads is simply being adjusted for local country audiences by misappropriating the names of local celebrities and following a similar pattern.

“These posts most often say ‘deleted interviews because the central bank doesn’t want you to know this secret’, mentioning celebrities from the country, even posting their photos to gain legitimacy. They note that you can acquire cryptocurrencies fast, and that all you need to do is visit the offered URL,” the police said in a statement.

“This link leads to a cryptocurrency trading platform, but there are no official details regarding the registration of the company, no information on jurisdiction, or how to get in touch with the legal entity to which you would entrust your money,” the police said.