- A fake news article has been circulating on Facebook claiming that Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, is being sued by the ‘Bank of Australia’ for promoting some kind of crypto scheme on live television.
- AAP Factcheck examined the article and found it was false after identifying many red flags, not the least of which being that ‘Bank of Australia’ doesn’t exist.
Remember that time Australia’s Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, went on live TV and promoted that dodgy cryptocurrency software? Well now everyone’s favourite bank, Bank of Australia, is suing her for something or other.
“But wait”, you may think, “there’s no such thing as Bank of Australia and this whole thing sounds a little fishy.”
Well, astute investor, if you thought that — you’d be right.
This ridiculous story is just the latest weird crypto-related fake news to spread on social media. Fortunately, there are so many red flags around this story most people would never fall for it. The story has been spreading mainly through Facebook posts linking to a fake news.com.au article which includes the fake transcript of the fake interview.
This story should be easily spotted as a fake by most people, but it never hurts to take a closer look and point out all its red flags for anyone who might’ve missed them. Scammers may use fake news content to generate ad revenue or promote dodgy investment schemes.
Related: ACCC Alleges Over Half of Facebook’s Crypto Ads Are Scams or Violate Policies
A Veritable Cavalcade of Red Flags
AAP FactCheck took a look at this story and found more red flags than you’d see at a Chinese military parade.
Firstly and most obviously, there is no Bank of Australia — there is a Bank Australia and of course there’s the Reserve Bank of Australia, but the Bank of Australia is just made up.
Secondly, there’s no evidence that Penny Wong has ever endorsed any crypto ventures — the very idea of Australia’s foreign minister going on TV to promote crypto is hilarious at this point, but I guess it could seem plausible to those who don’t follow crypto or politics closely.
The next giveaway that this story isn’t quite what it seems is the website’s URL, instead of being news.com.au it’s touxan.top — not exactly Australia’s most trusted source of news. And the path to the actual article is the kind of bizarre gobbledegook you often see in scam links — “nestory-irankunda-loaned-grasshopper-club-zurich-bayern-munich.”
On top of this, the site’s navigation doesn’t do anything, the time on the page never changes and the byline attributes the article to the ABC’s veteran finance reporter, Alan Kohler — who, as you may have guessed, writes for the ABC not Newscorp (or touxan.top).
Related: Australian Educator Battles Crypto Scammers: The Barefoot Investor Takes On Identity Thieves Head-On
So, anyone out there worried Penny Wong is spending her time spruiking dodgy crypto schemes instead of focussing on our nation’s foreign relations, you can now relax and get back to what matters most, FOMOing into the latest Solana memecoins before the creators rug you.
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