Lithuania is currently facing a massive attack by online scammers using the names of well-known news websites and companies to trick people into putting their money into fake investment schemes, Debunk.org, a disinformation analysis centre, said on Tuesday.
This is the largest disinformation and scam attack ever recorded in Lithuania, the centre said.
“Online scammers are creating copies of major news portals and fake Facebook accounts and inviting people to invest in fake investment platforms in order to extort money from citizens of Lithuania and neighbouring countries,” it said.
Debunk.org has identified 93 Facebook accounts used by scammers to spread disinformation and misleading content.
Most of them pretend to be media channels, such as LRT, LNK, Delfi and InfoTV, or companies such as Ignitis or Orlen Lietuva.
Through these fake profiles, scammers publish and aggressively promote fake news with sensational headlines.
To attract users’ attention, they “take advantage of the events that generate the most public interest”, according to Debunk.org.
“Shocking but true stories are deliberately twisted to include one or more elements related to finances or material well-being,” the centre said. “In this way, gullible and less financially literate users of social media are easily drawn into fake investment schemes that promise a sudden profit.”
According to Viktoras Daukšas, head of Debunk.org, this is “an example of a sophisticated attack using social engineering, disinformation, and manipulation techniques in fraudulent schemes”.
“What is particularly concerning in this case is its aggressiveness and unprecedented scale,” he said.
About half of Lithuanian Facebook users have already seen the ads, with an average of three views per person, according to Debunk.org.
Daukšas said that the illegal actions have been reported to law enforcement authorities and that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been contacted to have these fake profiles and ads removed.
Ramūnas Matonis, spokesperson for the Police Department, told BNS that the police have opened a number of pre-trial investigations into this type of fraud, but have so far failed to identify the scammers.
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