Internet Scams, AI & Fake News

We've just came from an election cycle that was overrun by fake news and I use that term in the true form and not for my dislike for actual accredited media organizations unlike how a well known orange buffoon feels. I'm sure you've seen it as well, daily posts from your friends and family sharing this information and videos further making it "real" for some. And for some, they believe it fully and with this belief, they are unable to see that information for what it is, fake, AI, or a scam.

Advances with AI does not only mean advancement of just text, but images and videos as well. They are advancing daily making it hard for laws to keep up or for an average individual to know the difference. Recently the below video was posted on Facebook, looking like a valid news post video with a link to the news site and a "sign-up" link that would quickly populate your contact info you have saved in Facebook. That was just what happened and before the video was finished being watched, the phone was ringing.

The caller sounding professional and friendly, starts to ask simple prodding questions: age, name, do you have a passport, a drivers license, etc. Very easy and quick to answer questions and after watching the video it was easy to start believe that a small $350 investment would return thousands. While that is happening, you receive a welcome email for you to log in and provide further details as shown here:

Once discovering this was a scam, the phone was hung up and no information was provided but the calls continued.

This above scam fits the scammers needs perfectly for a number of reasons:

1. Cheap for them to create a site, video and a phone number. I'd say less then a $50 investment for them, if they know what they are doing;
2. Post the video on Facebook and let it be shared by their scammers network and others who believe it;
3. Make it seem easy and cheap for a large return;
4. Once people make their $350 "investment" and realize that it is a scam, 99% will not report it for the fear of embarrassment.
5. The scammer runs the site for 2-4 months, taking 10-20 thousand "investments" for $3-$5 million before the site is shut down with no one being caught.
6. Next month, a new site, domain and video, starting the process all over.

For this one, I done some further looking into the site and found that the domain was registered just this past January and hosted with NameCheap, a known spammers hosting provider. Unfortunately most of the details of the domain were hidden but reports were filed.

Looking into the site the following Trustpilot site is returned. Trustpilot is a site that is used for people to see how trustworthy a site/business is, regular users rely on sites like Trustpilot to help make decisions on if that can "trust" a business. At first glance one may assume Varsyxgroup is trustworthy with a 4.6/5 rating, but all of the 37 reviews have been written in the last 2 months, one of those 37 is my 1 star review. 😏

I guess where I am going with this whole post is to trust no one on the internet and remember the old adage, if its too good to be true, it probably is. I mean this fully and completely, trust no one and nothing. Do your own full research, trust accredited news organizations (they have to act within the law) or official government organizations. Your cousin Joe, the video on Facebook or the neighbour 6 houses down the street is not a good source of news, financial advice or medical recommendations. Anything can be faked, like the Trustpilot review above, the CBC video above or a site to be make to look like an official one.

Some other official information:

• Don't take the bait: Recognize and avoid phishing attacks
• Report a scam

Be internet safe and protect your information!

Here is just another example of a video that is 100% AI generated.