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Fake News Scam Sites Advertising On Real News Sites

Posted by kdawson on from the maze-of-twisty-passages dept.

Virtual_Raider writes "Wired is running a story about a new twist in the never-ending quest to prove P. T. Barnum's adage. Old: Scammers are creating fake news sites that look almost like the real thing. New: They are advertising on real news sites, making it difficult for unwary readers to catch on they are being duped with fake coverage of get-rich-quick scams. Among those running the scam 'news' ads are the Huffington Post and Salon. From the article: 'The story has art, it has a sidebar, there's weather, supposed reader comments — even ads. Steadman is described as "a mother from San Francisco" — at least, when I read the article. Thanks to cutting-edge reporting techniques perfected by News 5, she will automatically move to the geolocation of your internet IP address when you read it. Look, she lives right in your neighborhood!'" Forbes also wrote about the scam news sites a couple of weeks back.

5 of 128 comments (clear)

  1. What news sites is it showing up on? by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The summary could at least tell us what news sites it is showing up on. Huffington Post and Salon are almost as reliable as The Onion.

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    1. Re:What news sites is it showing up on? by mh1997 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The summary could at least tell us what news sites it is showing up on. Huffington Post and Salon are almost as reliable as The Onion. I smell another "Conservative" idiot who can't distinguish between news and editorial, and is thus enraged by "Liberal" news and gratified by "Fair and Balanced" news.

      I smell an even bigger "liberal" idiot that does not have a sense of humor.

      The funny thing is, is that most of the complaining about Fox News is by people that can't distinguish between news and editorial/entertainment programs. Hannity is not news, O'Reilly is not news, that blond chick with the low cut blouse and high cut skirt reading a teleprompter - that's news.

  2. Re:ABC Should Crack Down by paazin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think the crackdown should be on Visa and Mastercard. Think about it; it's illegal to receive stolen goods, or sell stolen property, but the credit card companies are acting as intermediaries for these crooks. And, oh yeah, taking a cut (something like 3 - 5%). If the credit card companies had to take more responsibility for who they granted merchant accounts, under penalty of law, I'll bet these fraudsters would find it a lot harder to operate.

    Interesting idea and it seems like it'd have some worth - but considering the power of these industries, it's pretty much just a pipe dream as they won't allow congresscritters to do that.

  3. Wishing Well And Such by tholomyes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Sometimes the thing that you think isn't a scam, is a scam, and the thing that you think is a scam, isn't a scam at all. And sometimes that, itself, is the scam! So as you can see, things can be pretty tricky out there for consumers."

    "And for reporters!"

    --
    When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
  4. Re:Slashdot statism strikes again. by swb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The problem is, fraud is generally more about a one-time theft than duping you into buying inferior goods. When the snake-oil salesman came to town selling his potions, he promised they would work if you took them for 7 days, but he made sure to leave after about 5 days. He didn't care about selling you the same potion over and over, he only needed to sell it to you ONCE.

    You're right that market forces will eventually hurt the sellers of inferior goods, but that's not the kind of "fraud" that's most common.