“Myth Detector” revealed 7 Facebook pages that published posts using the visuals of Georgia Today and Tabula during May 6-17. Among such Facebook pages are: Poeta Day (1,2,3), News Georgia, BMA production (1,2), Kzinv, News Ge, News Ge 24/7, Tonerin. The posts published by these pages have the appearance of news stories and are thematically related to the ongoing protests in Georgia.
Infogram
The mentioned posts are of fraudulent content. The links attached to the posts redirect the user to a fake Tabula website that advertises a fraudulent investment platform under the name of the company Socar.
The identified Facebook pages position themselves as media outlets and use the logos of Georgian media outlets, Georgia Today and Tabula, while the fraudulent site they point to has Tabula’s visuals. Using the names of Georgian politicians, government officials, and businessmen, as well as Socar, they are trying to increase the credibility of the fraudulent scheme and collect users’ data in order to mobilize funds. Articles found on fraudulent websites are fake, and celebrity interviews are fabricated.
|
Facebook pages |
Published posts |
Fabricated article where the users are redirected to |
Websites that publish fake articles |
| Poeta Day |  |
 |
therekilar.com
kilargrunt.com |
| News Georgia |  |
The link is no longer accessible | somebasf.com |
| BMA production |  |
  |
kilargrunt.com nobodyavnm.com |
| Kzinv |  |
 |
intensefosa.com |
| News Ge |  |
 |
kilargrunt.com |
| News Ge 24/7 |  |
 |
kilargrunt.com |
| Tonerin |  |
 |
kilargrunt.com |
| Perodua Izan
(Sponsored posts about Mikheil Lomtadze were available in the page’s ads library on May 20, the screenshot was also taken on May 20) |
 |
 |
broinmate.com |
The majority of the disseminated posts use the Georgia Today logo, although the media is an English-language publication, and the visuals of its news cards on Facebook differ from the visuals of the shared posts.
The posts related to protests and the so-called Agents Law feature links to several different websites (therekilar.com, kilargrunt.com). These links lead to pages whose visuals are identical to online media Tabula’s website design, and an article titled “Why is the government afraid of protests and what is really behind the rallies in Georgia?” (1,2)
The post “About the scandalous earnings of the national team” with Tabula’s logo attached, redirects to a fake article under the name of Tabula that is published on intensefosa.com.
The link attached to the post about Mikheil Lomtadze, published by News Georgia, is currently unavailable. However, another page revealed in the process – Perodua Izan– featured sponsored posts related to Mikheil Lomtadze and they were available in the page’s ad library on May 20. As of May 21, these posts cannot be found in the ads library. However, the link of the advertising posts redirects us to the site broinmate.com, which uses the same visuals as Tabula, and publishes a fake article related to Mikheil Lomtadze.
The post related to Kakha Kaladze redirects us to the website nobodyavnm.com, which also uses a design similar to Tabula, and publishes a fake article about Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze.
Articles created under the name of Tabula contain grammatical errors, are stylistically incorrect, and are likely to be machine-translated. In the articles, politicians Levan Khabeishvili and Kakha Kaladze, businessman Mikheil Lomtadze, and an anonymous football player recommend the Socar information platform, and information about this platform is provided at the bottom of the articles. In several places, we find links to scam websites created in the name of Socar. These pages are positioned as an investment platform and offer users to register by specifying personal data: name, surname, and phone number.
It should be noted that when one clicks on any other link on the fake Tabula website, be it the main page or any other news, one will be redirected to a similar fake page related to Socar.
When opening the above-mentioned links from abroad, one gets redirected to a fake website of Nomad Capitalist. Using a VPN, when going to the link of Mikheil Lomtadze’s article from the US server, we come across a website that uses the visuals of the publication Nomad Capitalist. This site provides useful resources for those looking to do business abroad. The platform is in English. The fake article is in Russian and talks about investing in Georgia. No other links on the fake article page are active.
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Suspicious Facebook pages posing as media outlets, spreading fraudulent posts
Facebook pages that share posts related to the fraudulent website look also suspicious. They were created at different times, in the years 2018-2024. The pages are positioned as news pages, the name of the page contains News (News Georgia, News Ge, News Ge 24/7) or they have a profile photo with the inscription 24/7 News – Нишиби 24/ 7, (Perodua Izan, Poeta Day’s, BMA Production, Tonerin). Some pages publish posts in different languages, some have low Facebook activity. Countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Algeria are indicated as locations of page administrators.
The activity log of these Facebook pages looks suspicious.
| Facebook page | Date created | Posts published | Location of admins | Posts from Ads Library
(The information available in the ad library has changed several times, so it does not reflect the current state, in some cases it appears that several ads have been removed due to violations of META’s advertising policies.) |
| Poeta Day’s | 16 July 2018 | In April 2024, the page published false information cards with the image of Belarusian media Belarus 1 (1,2,3)
Published only one post in 2023. Before that, the page used to publish posts in Portuguese. (A few examples: 1,2)
|
Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines | 
Screenshotted on May 20
Screenshotted on May 21 |
| News Georgia | 12 May 2024 | 2 posts: Change in Profile and Cover photos
|
Not indicated | 
Screenshotted on May 20 As of May 21, no information about ads is available |
| BMA production | 2 April 2019 | Profile photo change on May 16, 2024, after which the page has not published any posts.
In 2019, the page published occasional French-language posts (a few examples 1, 2).
|
Not indicated | 
Screenshotted on May 20 As of May 21, no information about ads is available |
| Kzinv | 15 November 2023 | The only activity is the change of the profile picture
|
The Philiphinnes | As of May 21, no information about ads is available |
| News Ge | 15 May 2024 | Two posts, both about the change of the profile picture
|
Not indicated | As of May 21, no information about ads is available |
| News Ge 24/7 | 10 May 2024 | The only activity is the change of the profile picture  |
Not indicated | 
Screenshotted on May 20 As of May 21, no information about ads is available |
| Tonerin | 16 May 2022 | Posts on the page have been published since May 1. Fake news cards with the logo of Belarusian media Belarus 1, a fake video with the name of Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, and fake news cards using the Georgia Today logo were published (1,2)
|
Algeria, Indonesia, Philippines | 
Screenshotted on May 21 |
| Perodua Izan | 27 January 2020 | On May 19, the profile photo was changed, after which the page no longer publishes content. The page has previously posted allegedly fraudulent posts in Malay with mostly car visuals (a few examples 1,2).
|
Malaysia, Philippines, Algeria |
Screenshotted on May 21 |
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