Scam uses ads and fake news sites to target Meta users with fraudulent investment bait
Bangladesh Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed was shocked when he saw a news report apparently on a reputable media outlet in the country, claiming that Bangladesh Bank sued him for “promoting online investment schemes”. Even more disturbing was the featured photo—an image of him being arrested by the police. Promoted through paid Facebook ads, the report was circulating on social media for quite a while. However, the entire thing was fake. Even the news website was not real.
The finance advisor called it an attempt to damage Bangladesh’s reputation at home and abroad. But these weren’t just propaganda articles meant to tarnish reputations, as initially thought. Dismislab analyzed 37 news and fact-check reports, 15 online reviews and dozens of scam articles revealing that they were part of a scam operating worldwide across at least 36 countries. The scammers impersonated websites of at least 39 media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, BBC, South China Morning Post, Vanguard, Repubblica and Khaleej Times to run the scheme.
Over the last several weeks, Dismislab found more than a dozen ads on Facebook with false reports about at least five other well-known Bangladeshis, including politicians, businessmen, and an actor. Each of these ads leads users to a fake news article with an identical headline reading, “The central bank of Bangladesh sues” a public figure—only the name changes—because they made certain statements on TV.
But what actually made the central bank sue the public figure, as the fake article suggests? The article claims that during a TV interview, the public figure disclosed his or her investments in an online platform that generated high profits in a short time, luring users to visit that platform.
The scam works in four steps: Ads on Facebook and Instagram direct victims to fake news sites featuring articles about public figures, which then redirect them to certain trading platforms. Once users register by providing personal data, scammers persuade them to invest. After the funds are deposited, withdrawals are blocked, leaving victims financially drained, according to user reviews on Trustpilot, a business review platform.
These ads continue to thrive violating Meta’s advertising standards on domain impersonation, spam, and fraud-related policies, among others.
Ads promote fake news sites, false articles
The fake ad featuring Dr. Ahmed was first seen by Dismislab on February 21. Once a user clicks on the ad, it leads to a bdnews24.com article with a heading, “Central Bank of Bangladesh sues Salehuddin Ahmed over statements he made on live television.”
The article reads, “The scandal erupted during a live broadcast when Salehuddin Ahmed accidentally revealed his secret on the program,” which was eventually “interrupted by a call from the Bank of Bangladesh.” It continues and, at one point, quotes the former governor saying, “You don’t recognize me? Give me 30,500 Bangladeshi taka, and with the Nearest Edge platform (with a promotional link to the site), I’ll make a million in 12 to 15 weeks!”
At the bottom of the fake bdnews24.com article, there was a step-by-step guide instructing readers on how to sign up for the platform, along with a link to its registration form.
The screenshot of the talk show used in the fake article was from Bangladeshi TV station Channel 24. The article claims that the host of the show was Piyush Bansa, and that Dr. Ahmed had helped him sign up for the trading platform live on air, “with profits appearing within 20 minutes.”
Dismislab found the original talk show through a reverse image search. Its actual host was not Piyush, but Jannatun Nayeem. Nowhere in the entire 50-minute episode did the advisor of the interim government mention any investment platform, proving the claim to be false.
Similar fake ads were also circulated using the names of interim government Chief Advisor Dr. Muhammad Yunus, ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, former information advisor and student leader Nahid Islam, businessman Mohammad Aziz Khan, and actor Sadia Ayman. All of them were reported as being sued by the central bank for a TV comment on online investment opportunities.
The ads for these fake articles were placed by multiple Facebook pages (1, 2, 3, 4) running from Lithuania and Ukraine. Created in June 2022, all these pages shared similar profile pictures and cover images; have almost no followers; and were categorized as “community” pages on Facebook. They all listed the same contact number.
These pages have all the signs of a burner account that are created solely for running scam ads. They have minimal or no organic posts, lack genuine audience engagement, and have little to no history of activity.
How the scam works
These ads ultimately redirected users to shady investment sites like Immediate Luminary, NetherexPro, and, of course, Nearest Edge, the one Dr. Ahmed supposedly mentioned in a fake TV talk show. Each promised high profits, and when the user registered using the forms provided, they were told that an agent would call within 24 hours.
To understand how the scam operates, the author registered on the Nearest Edge platform. Within 30 minutes, an agent called from a Cyprus-based number, speaking in an unknown foreign language. When the author responded in English, the agent immediately disconnected the call. Shortly after, another person called back and instructed the author to check her email, where they had sent login credentials for the trading platform.
However, the email did not come from a Nearest Edge domain. Instead, it was from EZInvest, a platform based in South Africa. Using the provided credentials, the author logged into EZInvest Web Trader, which displayed real-time financial asset rates and a market trend graph suggesting trading profits.
The agent then persuaded the author to make an initial deposit of at least $200 (or the equivalent in Bangladeshi Taka), offering multiple payment options, including card payments and bank transfers. He assured that once the deposit was made, further assistance would be provided to invest and generate profits. After declining the offer, the author continued to receive multiple calls from Cyprus and UK-based numbers, urging to invest in the platform.
On its website, EZInvest claims to be authorized and regulated by South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA). The company address is publicly listed, and initial search confirmed its registration. In Trustpilot, a well-known business review platform, numerous users accused EZInvest of scamming people.
One victim, Chandana Fernando from Sri Lanka, shared that he saw on Facebook that the Sri Lankan central bank governor was endorsing an investment scheme. At first, he got calls from UK and Cyprus numbers, followed their instructions and deposited $201. When he later requested a withdrawal, he received multiple emails from a so-called “Compliance Department”, demanding sensitive personal details. The emails also contained threats, warning that his funds would be frozen if he failed to comply within a month.
Similarly, Pravinkumar Gokhe from India shared his experience with EZInvest on Trustpilot. An agent promised daily profits and convinced him to invest $200. Later, a portfolio manager pressured him into depositing over $4,380 and guided him into trading crude oil, gold, wheat, and natural gas. At first, he saw small profits, but soon the manager forced him to close winning trades and reinvest in high-loss assets, demanding more funds to “recover” losses. Pravinkumar is now demanding his money back and warning others not to invest.
The scheme in the Bangladesh cases appeared to be identical with their experiences.
36 Countries, 64 public figures
Dismislab has found news reports and ads of similar scams in at least 36 countries across almost all continents. The scheme is: an article shows the central bank of a country sued a public figure. Languages vary, but the message is more or less the same where the public figure is luring the users to invest in an online platform.
According to fact-checks and media reports and social media reviews, similar ads promoting online investment schemes have been targeting various countries in Asia, including India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, and Hong Kong, as well as in Africa, with countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Uganda being affected.
In Europe, where Dismislab traced the scam’s earliest versions back to late 2023, the scheme targeted the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, France and Italy. In the Americas, Chile, Colombia, Jamaica, and Canada were also affected, while in the Middle East, the UAE, Qatar, and Oman were targeted. Users in Australia and New Zealand in Oceania have reportedly experienced similar scams.
Dismislab documented at least 39 media outlets to be impersonated in the process, ranging from credible global news sources like BBC, The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, South China Morning Post, and CBC to prominent regional publications such as la Repubblica (Italy), Vanguard (Nigeria), News 18 (India), The Jakarta Post (Indonesia), New Zealand Herald (New Zealand), Khaleej Times (UAE), and El Mundo (Spain).
In July 2024, a report showed how fake media articles had impersonated well-known journalists to add credibility to their schemes and fraud people in Africa region. Scam Empire, an investigative project by OCCRP, SVT, and 30 other media partners, also exposed large-scale call center scams operating from Israel, Eastern Europe, and Georgia in early March. Using a 1.9-terabyte data leak, they uncovered how fraudsters lured victims through fake celebrity endorsements and investment schemes, conning 32,000 people out of at least $275 million.
Another OCCRP report highlighted that scammers used AI-generated deepfake videos and manipulated images of celebrities—including Elon Musk, Sandra Oh, Kylian Mbappé, Ryan Reynolds, Jeremy Clarkson, and Fernando Alonso—in similar frauds to lure victims. One Australian user lost $80,000 in cryptocurrency after clicking on a deepfake video of Elon Musk promoting an investment scheme.
Scam sites, shady domains
The fake bdnews24.com website that falsely reported on Dr. Ahmed in Bangladesh was actually hosted on denver-roofing.com. It cannot be accessed directly by simply entering the URL and is accessible only through specific links or subdomains. The fake articles are accessible intermittently, seemingly becoming active only during set times. Outside these windows, users are redirected to a fake Guardian news page on the same domain, which displays outdated articles copied from The Guardian’s archives, as found by this investigation. This redirection tactic also prevents archiving tools like the “Wayback Machine” from capturing the scam content, ensuring only the fake Guardian page is stored.
Dismislab identified 23 such domains being used across 19 countries, including Bangladesh, in this scheme. Most use similar tactics. In at least three cases, the same domain was used across multiple countries. For instance, savvywealthplan.com was used in scam ads targeting Bangladesh and Nigeria and the domain xpertaffil.com was used to scam users in Nigeria and Malaysia.
Meta cannot detect
Meta’s policy states that ads must comply with the Community Standard on Spam, which prohibits sharing deceptive or misleading URLs, including misleading redirects, deceptive landing pages, and domain impersonation. But the scam ads investigated by Dismislab are violating these checklists, deceiving users into believing they are legitimate.
Ads on Meta platforms must also comply with the Community Standard on Fraud, Scams, and Deceptive Practices, which prohibits content that “offers investment opportunities of a ‘get-rich-quick’ nature and/or claims that a small investment can be turned into a large amount.” Additionally, according to Meta’s Unacceptable Business Practices in Advertising standards, “Ads must not promote products, services, schemes, or offers using identified deceptive or misleading practices, including those meant to scam people out of money or personal information.”
This campaign violates all these policies and thrives.
Scammers have been known to exploit gaps in Meta’s automated ad review system, particularly in non-English languages and under-monitored regions. In this particular scheme, they likely exploit Meta’s ad system using cloaking techniques, rapid ad cycling, and deceptive targeting. Cloaking allows them to display benign content during Meta’s review process while serving fraudulent ads to users afterwards. They rely on short-lived domains and burner accounts, frequently rotating them to evade detection. By geo-targeting specific regions and tweaking ad copy, they avoid triggering automated detection.
Previous scam campaigns on Facebook have used similar deceptive tactics. Investigations by CheckFirst exposed Facebook Hustles while Reset revealed 242,000 fake Facebook pages spreading pro-Kremlin financial scams.
Methodology
We began our investigation with a fake bdnews24.com report, which targeted Bangladesh Finance Advisor Salehuddin Ahmed. After reviewing the ad, we noticed several similar ads appearing in our feed due to the algorithm. To dig deeper, we searched for the keyword “Central Bank…sued…for what he commented on live television” and found multiple posts, reports, and fact-checks complaining about similar fraudulent ads globally. We examined each report, fact-check, and online reviews that we have come across and analyzed screenshots from fraudulent domains and the manipulated media.
