"Someone posing as a Ukrainian citizen just joins the chat and starts spreading misinformation, or gathers data, like the location of shelters," Tsekhanovska said, noting how false messages have urged Ukrainians to turn off their phones at a specific time of night, citing cybersafety. Soloviev also promoted the channel in a post he shared on his own Telegram, which has 580,000 followers. The post recommended his viewers subscribe to "War on Fakes" in a time of fake news. "The argument from Telegram is, 'You should trust us because we tell you that we're trustworthy,'" Marรฉchal said. "It's really in the eye of the beholder whether that's something you want to buy into." In the past, it was noticed that through bulk SMSes, investors were induced to invest in or purchase the stocks of certain listed companies. However, the perpetrators of such frauds are now adopting new methods and technologies to defraud the investors.
from hk
