A newly released report by cybersecurity company CTM360 reveals a massive fraud manipulation using fake news websites known as fake news sites (BNSs) to deceive users into online investment scams in 50 countries.
These BNS pages are designed to look like real news outlets from CNN, BBC, CNBC, or local media. They publish fake stories featuring public figures, central banks, or financial brands, all claiming to support new ways to earn passive income. the goal? Building trust quickly and direct your readers towards professional fraud platforms such as TRAP10, Solara Vynex, and Eclipse acquisition.
Scammers use sponsored ads from Google, Meta, and Blog Networks to push traffic to these sites. Ads often have ClickBait headlines (“I don’t believe what a prominent celebrity has revealed,” making official photos and flags feel legal. Clicking on an ad will drive users to fake articles, which will redirect them to fraudulent trading platforms.
Many of these scams follow a two-phase structure. The first phase focuses on seducing victims through advertising and fake articles. The second phase begins with a call from the so-called advisor, followed by a continuous request for “account verification” designed to delay ID documents, crypto deposits, and withdrawals, which begins when the victim is involved. This layered setup helps the scammer build false trust, lose doubt, extract the maximum, and then the victim realizes that it is a trap.
CTM360’s WebHunt platform has tracked over 17,000 sites to date. Many are hosted in cheap top-level domains such as .xyz, .click, or .shop. In some cases, attackers can compromise on the actual website and host BNS content within subfolders, making Takedown difficult. Pages are often customized for each region. Increase your faith by using local languages, familiar media logos, local influencers and banks.
Most users encounter these scams when they are looking for ways to invest online or passive income, and often click on sponsored headlines that mimic legitimate financial advice. This content is designed to match these highly intended searches. Obstacles such as “automated crypto trading” and “celebrity-backed investments” are common baits tailored to what people are already looking for.
Once they arrive at the fake platform, the victim will be asked to register their name, phone number and email. Soon after that, the “investment agents” will continue over the phone, compelling with the experts. Victims are advised to create a small deposit, typically around $240, to activate their account. From there, the fake dashboard simulates profits and shows non-existent revenues. The more victims become engaged, the more pressure they are to invest again.
These schemes not only exploit trust, but also collect sensitive data for reuse in phishing, identity theft, and secondary scams. This makes news sites a crossover threat: some investment scams, some brand spoofs, some data harvesting. This is a pattern that is increasingly seen in pig slaughter fraud, fake KYC platforms and affiliate fraud networks. As the ecosystem evolves, it is a topic worthy of closer tracing.
Modeled on the Miter framework, CTM360’s fraud navigator tool maps how these frauds work step by step. From resource setup and ad creation to victim interaction, data theft and monetization. BNS plays a key role in the distribution stage and serves as an entry point for a much larger fraud pipeline.
CTM360 continues to track these campaigns and provide takedown support, threat intelligence, and risk protection to governments and organizations across their target regions.
Read the full report here.
About CTM360 – CTM360 is an integrated external security platform that integrates external attack surface management, digital risk protection, cyber threat intelligence, brand protection and anti-phishing, surface, deep & dark web surveillance, security assessment, third-party risk management, and unlimited takedowns. The seamless, turnkey CTM360 requires no configuration, installation or input from the end user. All aspects are managed by the CTM360.
For more information, please visit www.ctm360.com.
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