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RuNet scammers launch fake ‘business version’ of TikTok
A fake version of TikTok’s official website has popped up on the RuNet. Promoted by scammers as a “business version” of the wildly popular video platform, tiktok-business.ru is actually an imitation aimed at stealing users’ login credentials.
Analyst Alexander Vurasko from the cybersecurity firm Infosecurity (a Softline Company) told Kommersant that the scammers are sending bloggers a link to the fake website, which urges them to download the “business version” of TikTok in order to monetize their content. When the user enters their login credentials on the website, the page redirects to TikTok’s official site and their login information is forwarded to the scammers.
Similar sites have also been created to “hijack” popular accounts on the Russian social network VKontakte, Vurasko explained. The scheme also resembles a previous phishing scam involving fake messages alleging that someone had attempted to hack social media users’ accounts.
Spokespeople for TikTok told Kommersant that they have already filed a complaint and a request to have the fake website blocked. Presently, TikTok does not provide content monetization services for users in Russia, the company added.
There are already fake pages for practically all social networks, noted Alexander Chernykhov, a leading expert in the information security department at the IT company “Croc.” “Their main goal is to aggregate personal data of potential users,” he clarified. The expert adds that the appearance of a TikTok analogue is perhaps the first sign of “a new wave of more targeted phishing [attacks].”