In late June, our Disinformation and Digital Investigations Lead, Nitsan Yasur, took the stage at Cyber Week 2024, a premier international cybersecurity event hosted annually at Tel Aviv University. Cyber Week brings together top-tier experts from around the globe for a dynamic week of conferences, seminars, roundtables and networking opportunities.
As part of FraudCON 2024, a day-long conference at Cyber Week focusing on the fight against online fraud, Nitsan Yasur showcased the vital work of ISOC-IL’s Internet Safety Hotline in the session “Online Scams: Trust No One”. The Hotline has been assisting users for over a decade, providing support and conducting investigations in response to online harm experienced by users. Recognized as a trusted flagger by major social media platforms, the Hotline receives thousands of reports annually, primarily involving financial fraud and scams on social media. In the course of its work, the Hotline has uncovered several notable online scams targeting Israeli users, and provides crucial support and tools to aid users in guarding themselves against these threats.
One recent example Nitsan shared was a deep fake video featuring Mark Zuckerberg, in which he appears to be promoting a fraudulent investment platform called MetaBot. The video was disseminated as a targeted ad on Facebook. The video and many others like it illustrate the evolution of scams from direct communications to sophisticated, targeted ads based on user behavior and interests.
Examples of deep fake scams exploiting public figures in Israel to target the Israeli public:
Social media platforms enable micro-targeting with high accuracy, making users more susceptible to these scams. The majority of Israelis are highly active on social media, increasing their exposure to online scams and making them even more susceptible than the average audience. Additionally, platforms’ anonymity tools protect malicious actors, complicating efforts to expose and address these threats.
Nitsan emphasized that while social media companies profit from scam ads, they must invest more in user safety. The platforms need to enhance their efforts across multiple languages and regions to combat scams effectively. Despite these corporations’ vast monetary resources, their current measures are inadequate and they are often slow to act even when reports are submitted by trusted flaggers. ISOC-IL is dedicated to enhancing platform safety, and will continue working to raise public awareness and to pressure social media corporations and local decision-makers to fight online scams more effectively.
Watch the full video of the session here: