Google in aid of... Scammers

Have you ever been pressured by the mass media? Politicians, officials and big businessmen will surely say "yes". Compromise, investigations and "leaks" (it is very difficult to draw the line) are a normal element of their existence. However, these are all cases when the mass media deviate from their main goal in some way – to inform and clarify. Journalist and media expert Serhiy Lyamets writes specially for Ukrainian News.

But there is a special type of mass media. They are using pressure as a business model. These mass media are called "scammers" (from scam – "fraud"), although journalists usually have another name – "sh@t-websites". These publications appeared simultaneously with the spread of the Internet. The success of "scammers" is also related to the functioning mechanism of the World Wide Web.

Any official is a public person. A politician is even more. No matter how many friends he has in the Office of the President or defenders in the US Embassy, his tenure depends on his reputation. Nowadays, reputation is the Internet. You open Google, type in a person's surname – and you get certain data. The most viewed results will be offered first among the all. If it is a scandal like "Monaco Battalion", the reputation is considered hopelessly damaged.

The "scammers" took this model as a basis. They create dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of Internet websites, and publish damaging information on them. Most often, it is the same text that is printed simultaneously on hundreds of resources. The next turn is of SEO manager, whose task is to bring websites to the top views on Google.

So, imagine, one morning a politician Petrenko or a businessman Vitrenko (sorry, the surnames are random, I do not mean anyone in particular) receives links to anonymous websites from friends, which are full of articles of the same content.

These texts are often taken from some well-known mass media. In my own experience, I have many times had my own investigations, which we did according to all rules. But sometimes it's just damaging information with a lot of lies, or even everything written is not true. According to these articles, Petrenko or Vitrenko appear as quite intruders, violators and even scums. Mostly it's about corruption or business schemes, but sometimes there are really dirty things like digging out facts from private life. Let's add that all this can be an outright lie. I remember the unspoken accusations of pedophilia by several famous politicians in the middle of 2000s. These accusations, made according to all standards of propaganda, ceased the public activities of these people. That is, it works.

It should be noted that adherence to journalistic standards and fact checking are the fundamental points for reputable mass media that work for their own audience. These media have been created to work for years and gain the trust of their readers. Journalists of such mass media value their name very much, since it is their main asset.

However, purity of information is not fundamental for the owner of noname websites, since he has a different business model. He even had the fictional surnames of journalists, and an inexpensive program helps to publish materials on hundreds of websites at the same time. The owner of the scam website publishes damaging information, even if he understands that it is a fake – and then the second stage begins.

It seems that you can not pay attention. Noname websites have no influence, the respectable mass media never refer to them in their materials. But there are a few cases where the technology does work.

Let's imagine a customs officer, against whom a real compromise or accusation of compromise is published on scam websites. If it is an agreed attack, then law enforcement agencies can start an investigation even based on facts from dubious websites, if they wish. After all, most often "sh@t-websites" publish not outright lies, but still a mixture of truth and fiction.

After the full-scale invasion, ties with the Russians became another popular topic. Real or fictional – it doesn't matter if you want to throw mud at your competitor. Suddenly, sanctions will be imposed on him and he will be banned from doing business in Ukraine. Later, in a few years, he will prove that everything was not true. But time will be wasted.

Let's also imagine a businessman who has to conclude a contract with foreign partners or a bank. His partners are very sensitive to any negative information, they even have KYC (know-your-client), financial monitoring (checking the purity of the origin of money) and Compliance (honesty check) procedures. Foreign partners do not know, for example, that lb.online is not the same as the reputable lb.ua, and zn.info has no relation to the reputable zn.ua. They send printouts from the Internet to the partner and say a simple thing: we believe you, but you have to solve these problem, otherwise there will be no partnership.

What should be done? Filing a lawsuit does not bring any benefit. First, we don't known who to claim against, since the owner is usually hidden. Second, the courts work slowly and unpredictably. Third, even if the court wins, this text will appear on hundreds of other resources. You cannot sue everyone.

Therefore, a politician or a businessman usually addresses the specialists in "cleaning the Internet" for a help. They write to websites (there are usually contacts, since this is the essence of business) and conduct negotiations. Websites are usually offered to delete material either from each website separately, or as a "package" from all websites together. The typical cost of deleting information from one website is from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

There is also the opposite service. Let's say, you can post damaging information on a competitor for a slightly smaller amount. There is also a "package" offer, when you tap out on the Internet on hundreds of websites for a few thousand dollars.

Is this business immoral? Sure it is. Is it illegal? To some extent. But should we put all blame on the owner of the scam websites? No. I know from my own experience that quite respectable businessmen and politicians are not disgusted by posting of damaging information. So demand begets supply. This is the same as smuggling in partnership with customs officers, drug trafficking in partnership with the police, supplying Motor-Sich engines to the Russians in partnership with… (add your own option).

So, for ethical reasons, I will not name the people involved in this business. They are famous among some persons. However, the purpose of this article is to show you how this industry works.

Moreover, there is a practical part. My colleagues and I conducted a certain experiment. From a huge list of resources (it is not a secret among journalists), a few were randomly selected that are closely analogous to the scam websites. Sometimes they get into the ratings of the most active websites, sometimes others do. Among them, some websites work for a Ukrainian audience, some are Russian (but there are materials about Ukraine), and some even disguise themselves as British publications, but the content very often matches. After all, the same people are behind most of them.

Here is a list of those websites, on which we decided to conduct a "control purchase" of services for putting and deleting information.

obriy.news

abcnews.in.ua

pervomaysk.in.ua

ord-02.com

politinfo.com.ua

sxemy.com

kompromat1.pro

tvesti.ru

talk-finance.co.uk

ruscrime.com

We asked the editors how much it would cost to put up and delete materials. They received a specific monetary offer in 10 cases of 10. This is quite predictable. Nothing personal, just business.

Below are screenshots of our conversation. Make your own conclusions.

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