A deceptively real counterfeit of the Austrian daily newspaper “Krone” lures people into a subscription trap. Caution!

At first glance, the fake is hardly recognizable because the crown has been copied down to the smallest details! With the help of real commercial fake news, users on Facebook encouraged to take out an expensive subscription. But many people hardly notice this because they are lured into the subscription under false pretenses.

Mimikama explains what happens: It starts with a sponsored post on Facebook. Sponsored means someone has paid Facebook money in return for reach. This sponsored post claims to be the newspaper “Krone”. The Kronen Zeitung is the Austrian tabloid newspaper with the highest circulation.

[mk_ad]

This sponsored post claims that Apple's "largest warehouse caught fire late Thursday." Therefore, Apple is giving away “more than 2,173: undamaged iPhones throughout Austria”. This post claims to come from Krone.at. The newspaper's logo is used. This is typical bait on social media.

Sponsored article “Crown”
Sponsored post “Crown”

“Apple is giving away free iPhones” is the title under the posting. This is also the headline that follows when you click on this posting, because you now land on an article that looks completely like an editorial article.

Fake Krone newspaper

At this point we are dealing with so-called manufactured content in the area of ​​fake news: A website appears on the screen in front of us that is completely based on the appearance of the Kronen Zeitung. The logo, page structure and even the page address appear deceptively real. Without a closer look, this fake can hardly be exposed.

[[mk_ad]

The content is that Apple would supposedly give away iPhones all over Austria. It also explains how you can get such a smartphone. But: The entire text is fictitious! At this point we are dealing with pseudo-editorial content.

This fake web article merely serves as a bridge to the actual goal of this process. The goal at this point: The visitors to the page should click one of the many built-in links. This website is basically designed so cleverly that no matter what link there is, it always leads to the same page.

Fake “Crown” item
Fake “crown” item

The goal: an expensive subscription

From now on it gets uncomfortable, because anyone who was expecting truthful reporting and was hoping for a free smartphone will be bitterly disappointed.

The entire previous process, as well as the story with the fire in the warehouse and the iPhones being given away, is a scam. This fraud story, which was visually presented as an article from the Crown, lures people into a subscription.

You end up on a website that promises a smartphone, but after scrolling several times in small font, far down at the bottom of the page it reveals that there is a monthly subscription cost of €90. Above all, you learn there that iPhones are by no means being given away; suddenly “opportunity” and “win” are mentioned in lowercase letters:

Take part and grab the chance to win iPhone XS. The winner will be notified directly by email!
All new customers take part in the raffle for the campaign product shown. If you are one of the lucky winners, you will be contacted directly by email. This special offer includes a 3-day trial of an affiliated subscription service. Your credit card will then automatically be charged the monthly subscription fee (90 EUR). If for any reason you are not satisfied with the service, you may cancel with 3 days' notice. The subscription renews monthly unless canceled. This campaign expires December 31, 2019.

According to the fake crown article
According to the fake crown article

Therefore be careful at this point!

What happened here: Fraudsters lure people into a trap with a classic 3-step process. This isn't new, it's just that this method is becoming more and more sophisticated and difficult to detect. Not only the Kronen Zeitung is affected, but also other media, such as Spiegel ( see here ) or BILD ( here ).

But the good news: you don't have to pay the costs! We describe how you can take action against the subscription in our article “ Subscription trap in a competition costume – not funny at all!


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )