Fact Check: Shreya Ghoshal, Amitabh Bachchan detained? Fake news articles trick readers into scam investment websites

Hyderabad: Several websites imitating news articles are reporting 'arrests' of Indian celebrities while trying to scam netizens. We found several fake news reports targeting people, leading them to scam investment portals.

Fake news article claims Shreya Ghoshal was detained

We came across an advertisement on X, linked to a news report, claiming that fans advocate for Shreya Ghoshal’s release after she said something controversial during an interview.

Clicking on the advertisement on X redirected us to a website that contained an article about Shreya Ghoshal allegedly being detained by police. It was titled ‘Fans advocate for Shreya Ghoshal’s release after controversial interview’. The description stated, “Hundreds of supporters have rallied to defend Shreya Ghoshal following a scandalous incident during the live broadcast of a popular show.” (Link)

This page featured The Indian Express logo and its news format, giving the news an air of authenticity. However, the URL of the website was ‘ind.clawsrisingclimb.pics’, whereas the official URL of The Indian Express news publication is ‘indianexpress.com’.

The article claimed, “Shocked by the government’s order to detain her, fans are expressing their outrage as charges were brought against Shreya Ghoshal for leaking confidential information that could harm the country’s economy. As a result, she has been placed under house arrest, and authorities have strictly prohibited her from accessing the media.”

The article claimed that Shreya Ghoshal revealed that she earned millions of rupees by investing in the platform called ‘Lovarionix Liquidity’.

The article claimed that the incident occurred during a broadcast on Mirchi Plus where Shreya Ghoshal accidentally revealed an additional source of income. It further claimed, “Although this income is legal, authorities are concerned that disclosing this information could lead to mass layoffs by exposing income disparities.”

Markers that identify investment scams parading as news articles

The article did not mention any details regarding the detainment of Shreya Ghoshal, which is usually found in authentic articles. We did not find any dates, places or any specific details about the incident. The sections on the website or the comments were not interactive. When we clicked on the sections on the website, we were redirected to the page of ‘Lovarionix Liquidity.’

The page stated that ‘Lovarionix Liquidity uses Artificial Intelligence and State-of-the-art Algorithms to Identify Only Profitable Trades.’

These actions confirmed that the advertisement, imitating a news report in an X post, is trying to redirect the attention of netizens towards the investment platform.

Scammers also using Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar and Neha Kakkar

We have found several such articles written about Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Neha Kakkar and Sadhguru. These articles claim that the Indian celebrities were detained for revealing information about their investments on some platforms.

The archives of these articles can be found below:

Amitabh Bachchan (Archive), Sachin Tendulkar (Link), Neha Kakkar (Archive 1 and Archive 2) and Sadhguru (Archive)

NewsMeter found that these websites are imitating news reports to draw the interest of readers and scam them.

Likeness of other prominent news websites used

We found many websites imitating the format of news websites such as The Indian Express, BBC and VandeBharat LiveTV news. They also contained the same content with the only difference being the names of the celebrities, the images and the investment platform.

The websites were promoting investment platforms identified as Immediate Renova, Immediate +600 Folex, Trendtastic Prism, Immediate Luminary and Immediate i800 Evista.

Indian Express reported on these fake news websites in an article published on December 7, 2023, warning readers to beware of pages trying to imitate the news website.

“These web pages are designed to look identical to that of The Indian Express. The masthead looks the same, even the sections and bylines are imitated to deceive. The similarity ends there: the content, in a language mimicking news reportage, is designed to mislead you. And most often it is more than obvious,” said the report.

Because of the recent re-emergence of such scams, NewsMeter warns readers that the claims about several celebrities being detained because they revealed a ‘market-destabilising side income’ are false. These websites are trying to imitate genuine news websites to mislead netizens into investment scams.

Please do not click on such sites or share your personal details.