Wrote: Etrit Rexhepi
The account named "goplusenergy_drink" on TikTok in the last two days has published 6 videos on this social media, claiming to be donating money through a prize game.
The 6 videos in the content feature Miran Ramadani, who is the image of the energy drink brand "Go+", and captions that between 10 and 20 euros will be donated to the person who manages to stop a roulette wheel - which appears in the video - perfectly.
The account itself commented on the content, saying that anyone who has managed to fulfill the request can visit the link in the account's profile.
What's wrong with the publications?
Because there were comments that said they had fulfilled the requirement to benefit from the funds from the alleged prize game, Hibrid.info has verified the link provided in the account profile in question. The findings indicate that it is a dangerous page.
Initially, after clicking the link on TikTok, a page opens which warns that the link being opened "may be unsafe."
Hibrid.info has used the platform "Scam-detector.com", a tool for assessing the trust of digital identities (email addresses and websites) and found that the website is fraudulent and linked to other suspicious sites.
This platform explains that based on its algorithm, high-risk activity related to phishing and spamming was detected.
What is Phishing?
An organization or individual uses "Phishing"('phishing') if it is illegally trying to obtain sensitive personal information from you such as: user ID, password, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, etc.
They will then use the information you provided to access your account for illegal purposes, e.g. commit credit card fraud with the credit card numbers you mistakenly provided to the 'phishing' individual or organization.
What is Spamming?
Financial Damage: Spam-it can lead to financial losses for individuals and businesses due to fraud and attempts to steal financial information.
Hibrid.info has also used the platform "scamadvisor.com" for this link. This site also rated it with a minimum score, or as "very unsafe".
To also confirm that this is not original content, hibrid.info has also verified the official account of "goplusenergydrink". It was understood that the fraudulent account had taken over the original videos published earlier. (See examples here and here)
Also, the main account for the "GO+" drink on TikTok has nearly 600 thousand followers, while the fraudulent account has over 21 thousand.
Hibrid.info has verified the content of the official website and has not found any similar active prize game.
The impact of the videos published by the account in question has been significant on TikTok. Together, all videos have over two million views and over 50 thousand likes.
Analyze:
The account named "goplusenergy_drink" on TikTok claims to be a rewarding game for its followers.
This account has published six videos in two days and asks followers to enter a link that appears on the account for the reward. But this page, according to the findings of hibrid.info, is dangerous.
Also, the published content was taken from previous posts on the energy drink brand's official account.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info rates this website as "Scam".
Reasoning:
The “Deception” rating is given to informational content that is manipulated in terms of visual (deepfake, cheapfake), audio, or textual content to deceive the audience. This form of deception is usually used to produce false and manipulated content.