Just a quick report from the front lines of websites posing as fake news organizations in order to scam innocent people. Film Editor Erik Henriksen was happily perusing this USA Today article about an Abu Dhabi hotel constructing a $11 million Christmas tree and gold bar vending machine (what?) when he noticed this weird little notice on this side of the site:

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Which leads you to this website called News Reports 1 with an article headlined, “Can $97 Really Turn Into $6795? We Investigated…”

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It’s not until you get to the very bottom of the page in tiny gray print on a gray background that there’s a disclaimer, “We are not affiliated in any way with any news organization. This is an advertisement for Home Revenue System.”

It’s hard enough to parse out what’s a legitimate news site online, without skeezy companies trying to disguise their websites as TV news.

Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books.

6 replies on “Scamming Via a Fake News Site”

  1. “It’s hard enough to parse out what’s a legitimate news site online, without skeezy companies trying to disguise their websites as TV news.”

    No it’s not; unless you’re an old person or missing part of your brain

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