A survey by the digital security laboratory dfndr lab (in lowercase) revealed that around 300 people have already been deceived by fake profiles of Big Brother Brazil, BBB 21. The survey analyzed more than 60 fakes on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (where the subject circulates without stopping), who pretended to be participants in the program, and may have exposed users to some type of virtual scam.
According to the analysis, the profiles misuse the participants' images to reach a certain number of followers and then profit from the publication of paid advertisements and publications. Once this number is reached, the owner of the fake account can sell it to third parties who, in turn, can transform the profile into a "legitimate page" with thousands of followers.
Image: Reproduction (dfndr lab/PSafe)
“Fake profiles are generally used to spread the most diverse types of scams, creating supposed raffles for products and services and even promising fake money transfers via PIX,” warns Emilio Simoni, director of dfndr lab. The expert states that, through these promotions, fake profiles can acquire personal information from followers, such as cell phone number, CPF or date of birth, and apply virtual scams.
Tiago Leifert leads fake BBB profiles in number of followers
Image: Reproduction (dfndr lab/PSafe)
In the dfndr lab survey, BBB presenter Tiago Leifert appears as one of the fake profiles with the largest number of followers. The journalist, who is not very fond of Twitter, is the victim of a fake account that interacts, creates polls and comments on the day's program with 236 thousand people.
When I tried to contact the fake Tiago Leifert, I discovered that his account did not receive direct messages. The profile that pretends to be the presenter is followed by accounts of other BBBs and other celebrities, such as the soccer player Neymar. His posts, which have over 200 thousand likes, present strange sentence constructions for a presenter from Rede Globo – but, well, it is Twitter. These accounts violate the False Identity Policies of the social network, but apparently they are only taken down after reporting. Apparently, so far no one has reported the fake presenter.
Image: Reproduction/Propmark