“What if we took advantage of the brilliance of Miss France’s crown to blind (too) naive Internet users? “. This is the idea that scammers had to launch a major scam on Facebook and Instagram, explains Numerama.
The scam consists of the dissemination of false advertisements illustrated by photos of Ève Gilles, Miss France 2024, in posts promising “financial revelations likely to shake the foundations of French society”. Nothing less…
Since December 26, 2023, nearly 590 fraudulent posts have been published on social networks. Numerama thus evokes some examples, of false criticisms issued by celebrities such as Yann Barthès, the host of “Quotidien” on TMC, or Anne-Claire Coudray, presenter of “8 p.m.” on TF1.
Followers who have the bad idea of clicking on the links offered are then redirected to fake news media articles (The world, Release) which promote banking trading operations via cryptocurrencies. The aim being, of course, to relieve them of their savings.
A technique with multiple applications
Increasingly popular among computer hackers, this hacking technique – often denounced by the Ministry of the Interior or that of the Economy – is sometimes used by states seeking to interfere in the processing of news in a country during, in particular, local or national elections.
The image of other personalities, including the actress Virginie Efira, has already been exploited in this type of scam. Contacted by NumeramaMeta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, simply responded that “content that attempts to deceive, intentionally lie, or exploit others to obtain money or goods” was systematically removed.