Fake news video exploits major Australian brands to promote financial scam on Facebook

^{By Renee Davidson}

A fake news report that uses clips of Channel 9’s A Current Affair program has been used to create a video that promotes a financial scam on Facebook.

The video, which carries the Channel 9 logo, claims to describe a financial investment opportunity purportedly offered by the Commonwealth Bank that allows people the ability to earn $500 a day.

The Commonwealth Bank and Channel 9 have rejected the video as fake. But the video, which has been viewed by thousands of social media users, is still visible on Facebook.

The scam comes as Australian consumers and businesses suffer millions of dollars in losses to scams online.

What does the fake video show?

The fake video starts with A Current Affair presenter, Deborah Knight, introducing an opportunity that allows people the chance to earn $90,000 a year working flexible hours without requiring any qualifications.

The report then cuts to a pre-recorded news story, where a reporter with a robotic voice and an American accent explains the investment program. The reporter’s name is not listed and their face is not shown. 

Featured in the video are vox pop interviews with people it claims are among the first to use the program. They appear to give testimonials of the Commonwealth Bank scheme, with one woman saying, “I think it’s a really good industry to get into” and “I would say ‘just go for it’”. Another woman says, “I actually applied online and they rang me back straight away.” 

But the clip of Ms Knight and the vox pops are all taken from a genuine news report aired by A Current Affair less than three months ago, about cleaners earning more than university graduates.

The fake video, which has been viewed more than 6,700 times since October 4, was posted by a Facebook account called “AU News”. The page carries a Sky News logo and shows that it was created on January 1, 1970 - decades before Facebook came into existence. 

The Facebook post which links to the video also contains written text posted by the author which states: “The investment program from Commonwealth bank has become available for residents of Australia. The first users are already earning from $500 daily.” 

The written post then directs social media users to register for the program via a link and to wait for a call from an “official representative of the company”.

The link, which has a tagline “Safe Site” next to a green tick, takes users to a fake article purportedly published by Channel 9, containing further information about the investment scheme and quotes from vox pops featured in the video.

Users are asked to follow another link that takes them to what appears to be a Commonwealth Bank web page with a caption that reads: “You can earn up to $3,700 per week by investing just $250-$300 today!” They are then prompted to complete a survey and provide their full name, contact number and email address.

How RMIT FactLab researched the fake video

RMIT FactLab conducted reverse image searches of the faces of the people featured in the fake video. 

This search led to the original video of the A Current Affair episode, which aired on July 22, 2022, titled “The cleaners earning more than university graduates”.

Clips have been taken from the original segment to construct the fake video promoting the scam. 

FactLab also identified that the URL of the fake Channel 9 article matched the URL of the fake Commonwealth Bank registration web page. A domain name search of the URL revealed that the registrant’s name has been “redacted for privacy”. 

The location of the URL’s administrator is recorded as Reykjavik, Iceland. 

An online search of the recorded address produces a website that advertises “virtual offices” where renters have “use of the address for business cards” and “websites”.

The URL’s recorded address, as well as the listed phone number, appear on several online “scam alert” forums. 

The domain name of Channel 9 is registered as Nine Network Australia and Commonwealth Bank is registered as Commonwealth Bank Australia.

What do the Commonwealth Bank and Channel 9 say about the scam? 

A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told RMIT FactLab that the information in the post was “false”.

“When we become aware of these scams we take steps to request the videos are taken down,” the spokesperson said. “This relies on the digital platform hosting the video.”

The Commonwealth Bank lists the scam on its “Latest Security Alerts” website page, noting the scammers have “published links on social media to fake articles exploiting the Commonwealth Bank brand” and “faked testimonials” to convince people the investment program is a valid scheme. 

A Nine spokesperson told FactLab that “the video is an obvious fake and we did not provide anyone with any authorisation to use the footage in it”.

Increasing prevalence of scams

RMIT FactLab identified another Facebook post promoting the same investment scam. It links to a doctored A Current Affair episode, this time featuring news presenter Tracy Grimshaw. 

The Facebook page that made the post carries a Commonwealth Bank logo with a page description that reads, “Broadcasting & media production company”. The doctored video has been viewed more than 78,000 times since the post was made on October 17 this year. The Facebook post and page are no longer visible.

More recently, Seven Network’s Sunrise news presenter, David Koch, warned Australians of a financial scam circulating widely on social media that uses his photo and made-up quotes attributed to him to endorse a bitcoin scheme. 

In its fifth progress report on digital platforms, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) noted that losses reported to Scamwatch from scams carried out on social media and mobile apps almost doubled between 2020 ($42 million) and 2021 ($92 million).

According to the ACCC, Australians lost a record amount of more than $2 billion to scams last year. The consumer watchdog expects this figure to double to $4 billion in 2022.