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There is a fake version of BBC News report which is designed to scam users into paying money to buy Bitcoin. Of course one does not really get any Bitcoins for the money they pay.
The page imitates a story that the BBC ran about one of its Panorama documentaries in 2017 that did talk about Bitcoin, but alternatively of any legitimate news, the fake article instead takes users to a site assuring to make them millionaires.
The news story was broken by MySecurityOnline, a British security researcher who received an email regarding this suspicious looking webpage. The scam works by sending reasonable looking emails to internet users with a âDisplay Messageâ link that directs users to websites that have been meticulously composed to resemble BBC News.
When a user clicks anywhere on these fake BBC News sites, they are directed to one of the many affiliate sites run by the scam syndicate which generates a certain bitcoin amount per page view.
What Is Spoofing?
In the context of information security, and especially network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which a person or program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data, to gain an illegitimate advantage.
Cryptocurrency spoofing is something that is not all too hard to notice after the fact. Essentially, you are likely to notice a large buy or sell wall of orders that seem to convey a strong market interest in a particular cryptocurrency.
The key difference between this and other types of spoofing is the fact that in this case, the only purpose appears to be to lure users into sending traffic to the affiliate sites, rather than to convince them to download ransomware or cryptojacking malware. In this case, the traffic is being directed towards buying fake bitcoins.
Final Take
This isnât the first time that a Bitcoin scam has been linked to the BBC, and adverts last year emerged on social media claiming that investors from Dragons Den had backed a new bitcoin trading platform, while another claimed that Sir Alan Sugar had quit his role on The Apprentice to help grow the platform.
BBC is not the only ones affected by online impersonators. Earlier this month, Bitcoin Exchange Guide had bought you a story about a fake news site has used images of former Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key to promoting crypto-currency. We even reported a story about how scammers on social media could have made millions in 2018 alone through impersonation.
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the views of Bitcoin Insider. Every investment and trading move involves risk - this is especially true for cryptocurrencies given their volatility. We strongly advise our readers to conduct their own research when making a decision.