On October 19, 2023, the Facebook page Jorge Minaya published an interview with Giorgi Gabunia, the director and journalist of the “Mtavari Channel”, with the catchy headline: “What happened to Giorgi Gabunia and is this the end of his career?” On the cover of the article accompanying the post, we read that Giorgi Gabunia had to reveal the shocking truth during a live interview. The truth that Gabunia reveals in the interview is about earning money with the help of “SOCAR Georgia Gas” shares and an easy way to get rich quickly.
The claim that Giorgi Gabunia has revealed the secret of getting rich quickly, which is related to the shares of “SOCAR Georgia Gas”, is disinformation and is part of a fraudulent scheme. Gabunia has not talked to Newsgeorgia or other news agencies about ways to make money on air, and both the interview and the website’s interface are fabricated.
On the website called daughtertoiletreplacewheat.com (archive) Giorgi Gabunia’s interview is presented under the following headline: “Giorgi Gabunia will have to answer in court: the National Bank of Georgia is going to file a lawsuit because the secret has been revealed – how any resident of Georgia can earn capital.” According to the article, NewsGeorgia’s ratings and views increased after viewers accidentally saw a link to a specific website on Giorgi Gabunia’s cell phone screen. That is why Gabunia was forced to reveal how it is possible to earn several thousand GEL in one day through “Socar” shares. According to the article, those who want to get rich should go through a simple registration and deposit 300 GEL on the given link, and experienced traders will do the rest. For more credibility, the interviewer “registers together with Gabunia” and earns 650 GEL in just 20 minutes.
The guide at the end of the interview describes the registration process for those who want to earn money. According to the instructions, after registration, the user will be contacted by a personal expert and included in the project. It is also stated that the applicant can invest money from the beginning and the minimum amount should be 300 GEL.
Notably, on the website where Giorgi Gabunia’s interview is published, the visuals and logo of the Russian-language edition, newsgeorgia.ge, can be found. The site also includes the same sections (All News, Politics, Economy, Society, Incidents, Good News, Tourism, and Weather) as found in the interface of the original publication.
However, when clicking on these sections, the news does not open and we go to the site with the same name (https://daughtertoiletreplacewheat.com), where the webpage asks users to register.
In order to create credibility, on the same page, the license of a professional participant in the securities market issued by the National Bank can also be found, which is dated December 13, 2019, and has the signature of the then president of the National Bank of Georgia, Koba Gvenetadze.
It is important to note that the “Socar Georgia” does not have a project, which allows people to earn money quickly and easily. The company has addressed similar fraudulent claims in the past as well. Information about the project allowing people to make money quickly through shares is not available on the official Facebook page and website of Socar either.
“Myth Detector” has verified the fraudulent information spread under the name of “SOCAR Georgia Gas” in the past as well. In July 2022, a video was circulated on Russian-language pages, in which it was also mentioned that the President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, developed a reform, according to which Georgian citizens would be able to receive dividends from gas transits and earn up to 2000 GEL per month. At the end of the video, users were encouraged to register to receive money. In April 2023, information was spread on behalf of “SOCAR Georgia Gas”, according to which the President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, offered the population to invest 500 GEL in the “SOCAR Georgia Gas” project, which would bring them a monthly income of 3000 GEL. In both cases, the information was false and part of a fraudulent scheme. For more information about this, see the “Myth Detector” materials:
- Fraudulent Scheme Disseminated under the Name of Zourabichvili and Socar Georgia Gas
- О КОМПАНИИ SOCAR GEORGIA GAS РАСПРОСТРАНЯЕТСЯ ВИДЕО, КОТОРОЕ СОДЕРЖИТ ПРИЗНАКИ КИБЕР-МОШЕННИЧЕСТВА
It should be noted that Newsgeorgia.ge responded to the information about the “SOCAR Georgia Gas” project on its Facebook page. The publication warns the users not to be deceived by the fraudulent scheme.
This is not the first time that fraudulent websites steal the visuals of Newsgeorgia.ge and offer users easy ways to make money. In November 2021, in videos spread on social networks, the Russian natural gas company Gazprom offered Georgian citizens to earn thousands of dollars a month, and the video had the caption НОВОСТИ – ГРУЗИЯ Информационный портал, which created the impression that the offer was covered by newsgeorgia.ge news agency.
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On the Whois.domaintools platform, we see that the website (daughtertoiletreplacewheat.com) was created on October 17, 2023, and the IP address is California.
What do we know about the page Jorge Minaya?
The Facebook page Jorge Minaya, which has been promoting the fraudulent scheme, was created on September 16, 2013, and is described as being owned by Jorge Minaya, a political consultant and former youth minister of the Dominican Republic. The page has a blue mark, which means it has been verified.
In the photo section of the page, there are only photos taken within the election campaigns of Jorge Minaya, footage of the politician’s meeting with the population, and participation in talk shows.
On Jorge Minaya’s “timeline” (posts box) election-related banners and calls to vote are published. Therefore, in this field, there are no advertisements for quick accumulation of money. Instead, there are seven sponsored posts in the ads library under Jorge Minaya’s name. Six of them are in Italian, dated October 10, and refer to the end of the career of Italian TV presenter Paolo Bonolis. The advertisement has a sensational and intriguing text attached: “His words became known on live broadcast. Is Paolo Bonolis career really over?”
The seventh advertisement, launched in January 2023, concerns the election of Jorge Minaya as a deputy.
This behavior gives the impression that other than the original owner has access to the page, which is confirmed by the information about page administrators in the About section. The Facebook page is managed by two people from Vietnam and five people from Ukraine.
It is worth noting that using celebrity names on websites/posts with fraudulent content is a common method to attract more people to the platform. For example, “Myth Detector” verified fake videos circulating under the name of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, as well as an interview in the name of Valeri Meladze:
- Altered Video in the Name of Elon Musk Contains Signs of Cyber Fraud
- В ФЕЙСБУКЕ РАСПРОСТРАНЯЕТСЯ ВИДЕО МАРКА ЦУКЕРБЕРГА С ФАЛЬШИВЫМ РУССКОЯЗЫЧНЫМ ОЗВУЧИВАНИЕМ
- A Fraudulent Wesbite Under the Name of Valeri Meladze (in Georgian)
- Fraudulent Website Encourages Users to Use a Cryptocurrency Trading Platform in the Name of the President of Georgia
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