Beware of Scams! Fraudsters want to make money on fake view sites

Thomas BenkoTeamlead Digital Blick.ch

Whether it’s celebrities like Roger Federer – or TV shows like “Lions Den.” Fraudsters misuse well-known names to rip off Swiss internet users with hopes of quick bitcoin profits.

Unfortunately, vision is also affected – indirectly. Because criminals fake the design of well-known media like Blick.ch for bitcoin extortion.

“Hi, I’ve been getting these ads on Instagram for the past few days, and it’s not from you,” a reader recently wrote to us.

The headline there reads: “‹Lion’s Den› makes the Swiss rich” etc. It’s about the fact that you can invest somewhere. Beneath that, there are frequent comments from users raving about getting rich quick – of course, they’re also fake.

To be clear: Please ignore suspicious messages like this. It has nothing to do with seeing.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to stop fraudsters through the courts. They are located abroad (mostly in Russia) and always operate from new web addresses.

Facebook can’t stop scammers

This fake advertising often spreads via social media – above all Facebook and its photo community Instagram. Even at a high-tech company from Silicon Valley, fraudsters seem to be overwhelmed by algorithms. Or you do nothing. Because Facebook makes good money from advertising.

This is how you can identify fake pages

Since it is difficult to stop fraudsters either technically or legally, there is little else to do but use common sense.

Of course, Blick.ch makes money from advertising. But Blick doesn’t want to talk you into any bitcoin investments.

A web address also exposes internet fraudsters. If you click on one of the fake articles, you will not end up on Blick.ch, but on a manufactured page. You can identify it above all by the strange web address (URL) that appears in the browser.

Report a scam!

Bligh asks you for help: If you see fraudulent ads on social media, report them to the respective operator (Facebook, Instagram, Google, etc.).

If in doubt, you are welcome to contact us via our email address [email protected].