In Slovakia, a new version of online fraud is spreading, which abuses portraits of public officials and the visual identity of state institutions. The aim of this fraud is to lure victims for false investment. Currently, there is a campaign on social networks that abuses the visual identity of the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic, such as the logo and graphic elements from the official website as well as The portrait of Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD)ESET warned on Thursday.
According to the company’s experts, the strategy of fraudsters is to be credible and to lure people to a non -existent project called Finance Legend, which sets out for the “government supported” and allegedly guarantees high investment returns.
In fact, it is a fraud to obtain personal data and the money of the victims. Fraud begins through sponsored ads on social networks, often with emotional subtitles as “The whole of Slovakia is shocked by the declaration of the Prime Minister!” and photograph of the Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic.
After clicking on the ad, the user is redirected to a fake news website, which in this case imitates the well -known portal Aktuality.sk. The article promotes the Finance Legend project as an investment supported by the government and in the end it contains a link to the “official website”. After clicking on the link, the visitor will find himself on the second false page, which visually follows the elements and colors of state portals, especially the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic.
The project here acts as “State -supported platform for citizens who want to create passive income”. At the same time, the site states that investments are “insured by the National Bank of Slovakia” and the project has a “official license”.
In the past, with similar fraudulent schemes after completing the registration form with the name, e-mail and telephone contact, the so-called manager spoke. He encourages the victims for a quick investment, at least € 250 and tries to convince them by various misleading claims, such as immediate income after registration or false stories of citizens who have joined and earned the platform. Transactions and their authorization are carried out by the victim itself according to the attacker’s instructions.
Bank data also confirms that similar frauds are currently one of the most common ways people lose money. “This is a relatively standardized type of fraud, and the attackers change the story that they try to lure potentially victims. People should therefore be careful about what ads on social networks click and check the information on the official website of the institutions. If something is issued for the state organized project, it will certainly be enough information on the official website of the relevant ministries or state institutions, ” Ondrej Kubovič added a cyber security specialist.
