How to feed yourself if you don't have an audience, but you do have a keyboard.
A recent study by BleepingComputer uncovered a campaign to manage a network of more than 60 sites that mimic the largest media resources, such as the BBC, CNBC, CNN, etc. The main activity of the campaign is to verbatim reprint articles from reputable news sites under the "admin" account, which is actually plagiarism.
The study found that the network is backed by an operator from India, which uses the sites not only to increase the SEO of its online casinos and other gambling games, but also to sell advertising spaces under the guise of press releases and product reviews at inflated prices.
Fake websites that pretend to be popular news outlets
Such fraudulent sites are especially actively promoted through spam on forums and comments on various sites where advertising slots are offered - $50 per post or wholesale for $1,000. This creates an illusion of legitimacy and may mislead users who want to promote their products or services in reputable publications.
It was also discovered that the operator manages Facebook pages* for some of these sites and may have registered them as publishers in Google News, similar to real media organizations. The campaign raises questions about the credibility of the content that these sites publish and the legitimacy of the products and services promoted through them.
Facebook page of a fake edition of "Washington Times News Today" with the real address of the Washington Times
The domains mentioned in the study were registered at least since 2022, and new ones continued to be added until 2024. All domains use WordPress as a CMS system and share a common registrar and hosting provider One.com. The sites not only abuse the names of well-known media to promote SEO, but are also clearly aimed at promoting gambling, sports betting, casinos, and cryptocurrency companies.
Given the scale and complexity of using such a large network of domains, it is difficult to predict whether its actions will remain limited only to creating SEO and selling advertising spaces, or whether the network may be used to spread fake news and misinformation in the future.
A recent study by BleepingComputer uncovered a campaign to manage a network of more than 60 sites that mimic the largest media resources, such as the BBC, CNBC, CNN, etc. The main activity of the campaign is to verbatim reprint articles from reputable news sites under the "admin" account, which is actually plagiarism.
The study found that the network is backed by an operator from India, which uses the sites not only to increase the SEO of its online casinos and other gambling games, but also to sell advertising spaces under the guise of press releases and product reviews at inflated prices.
Fake websites that pretend to be popular news outlets
Such fraudulent sites are especially actively promoted through spam on forums and comments on various sites where advertising slots are offered - $50 per post or wholesale for $1,000. This creates an illusion of legitimacy and may mislead users who want to promote their products or services in reputable publications.
It was also discovered that the operator manages Facebook pages* for some of these sites and may have registered them as publishers in Google News, similar to real media organizations. The campaign raises questions about the credibility of the content that these sites publish and the legitimacy of the products and services promoted through them.
Facebook page of a fake edition of "Washington Times News Today" with the real address of the Washington Times
The domains mentioned in the study were registered at least since 2022, and new ones continued to be added until 2024. All domains use WordPress as a CMS system and share a common registrar and hosting provider One.com. The sites not only abuse the names of well-known media to promote SEO, but are also clearly aimed at promoting gambling, sports betting, casinos, and cryptocurrency companies.
Given the scale and complexity of using such a large network of domains, it is difficult to predict whether its actions will remain limited only to creating SEO and selling advertising spaces, or whether the network may be used to spread fake news and misinformation in the future.
