Through a Facebook post, a request was made for help from the Kosovo Red Cross for people suffering from diabetes.
"Dismal Unequaled", a Facebook account, published a post on May 13 in which it called for people with diabetes to apply for help from the Red Cross.
"Red Cross Foundation for Diabetes. Every diabetic who applies today will receive help from the Red Cross," reads the description of the photo published on Facebook by this account, accompanied by the Kosovo flag.
What's wrong with this post?
After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that the post uses old photos from foreign countries and that clicking on the article leads to a suspicious page with a fake article.
Link to the “Dismal Unequaled” Facebook post:
The photo used in this case has been circulating on the internet since 2022, when the International Red Cross announced aid deliveries to Kherson after the start of the war in Ukraine. (see here)
The Facebook post has received comments that prove that readers trusted the content.
The Facebook page of the “Red Cross” Association in Kosovo has not made such a publication, and hibrid.info, searching its account, has not found any posts related to similar assistance for people with diabetes, as claimed by “Dismal Unequaled”. (see here)
Why is this website suspicious?
Article link
Clicking on the photo shared on Facebook leads to the suspicious page “al7.diefiltertea.info.” The article that opens leads to false content with old photos taken from other countries, but linking them to Kosovo.
"On 13.05.2024, the decision was made to allocate the quota for diabetes treatment," this article is titled.
But the main photo of the article turns out to have been taken from a meeting of the Committee on Health in the Ukrainian Parliament. (see here)
The name "Ajsha Krasta" is even used as the endocrinologist who initiated the "decision on the quota for diabetes treatment". But after hibrid.info's research, it turns out that the photo used in this case is of Turkish doctor Meltem Goreli, taken from a video of January 3, 2022 on Instagram. (see here)
The use of several words from other languages also makes the site suspicious.
At the end of the article, the article leads to a “discount offer” to purchase the product “Diatea”. To alert, it states that “due to the large number of orders, the manufacturer had to limit the terms”. “The promotion lasts until 15.05.2024 inclusive”, it says at the end of the article. And this product is offered “with a 50 percent discount” and costs 20 euros. There is also a timer that counts down, but as soon as it reaches 0, it returns to the beginning again.
At the end of the promotional content on the suspicious website are some comments praising the product. But their profiles are not clickable to verify that they are real.
At the bottom of the page there is also an address in Moscow, Russia.
Analyze:
The "Dismal Unequaled" Facebook account has published a photo claiming to be helping the Kosovo Red Cross for diabetics.
After verification by hibrid.info, it turns out that the content uses old photos and has nothing to do with the alleged issue the page is promoting. The Facebook page also shares dubious websites that also have content in Russian and photos that are completely unrelated to it.
Based on its work methodology, hibrid.info assesses this content as "fraud".
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.