Phishing Alert: Fake Libra Sales in Romania

As Libra is a proposed cryptocurrency which is planned to be launched in 2020 by Facebook, the social media giant, there are people who would like to invest early in this type of currency of the future.

This is also the idea which triggers fake news, fake websites and phishing websites, such as the one we have discovered due to a Facebook ad the authors are running on Facebook. Yes, they are not ashamed of phishing by running the ads on the very network they are deceiving people about. You can see how this ad runs on Facebook:

As you can see above, there is a printscreen from an ad run on Facebook, meant to deceive Romanian user into believing they see a Telegraph article, the reputable British newspaper. In fact, they see a Telegraphonline ad, but Telegraphonline is in no respect associated with The Telegraph. Yet, the logo above the Title of the ad belongs to The Telegraph and is meant to deceive people into believing they see a genuine Telegraph article.

Romanians are encouraged to share it, as the Facebook page running this ad is called Share it. Yet, it’s not hard to create a Facebook page and to call it the way you like it. By the time we saw this ad, it had 90 shares so far and 228 reactions.

On top of that, the title of the ad is targeting Romanians: “Romania to Be the First Country to Have This Official Currency”. Great, right? WRONG! It is a dynamic targeted ad which in Bulgaria will change its title into “Bulgaria to Be the First Country to Have This Official Currency”. You got it?

More, the ad is linking to a natural written article, on a regular website, which is called G4shimusic.com, no connection whatsoever with Telegraph and other major publications. There you will find some information about the future digital coin, but you will be asked to enter your e-mail in order to subscribe to further news on the subject.

So, unlike the classic phishing websites, this one is not so direct and we believe “the magic” happens after you subscribe.

What is phishing:

According to Phishing.org, phishing is a cybercrime in which a target or targets are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords.

The information is then used to access important accounts and can result in identity theft and financial loss. DO NOT ACCESS THESE WEBSITES! REPORT ANY PHISHING AD YOU SEE ON FACEBOOK OR ACROSS THE WEB!