Monday, September 14, 2026
I have been wanting to write a posting on cybercrimes for a while and it is very frustrating by the lack of oversight on ad networks like Outbrain, Google Ads and Meta. These are the places where I see scam ads like a dating site that leads you to an automated dating site with fake women that I saw on USA Today.
First why would this fool somebody. The Ad appeared on the NY post, so I trust it a bit, but this ad caught my eye. I guess the current political environment made it clickable at my end. Well it was a surprise to see what happened next when I clicked on it. This ad was delivered by Outbrain as sponsored content. The Ad people at the NY post needs to keep a more watchful eye too, if they moderate the ad feed at all.
OMG, I was very surprised to see a CBC page with video, with a host of endorsements for a AI driven investment fund under the guise of the Federal Government. Thats right they are using the Canadian government and the CBC as the front man for this scam plus an image of the PM is used. I hope my friends at the CBC are aware of this to help shut it down as it is a team effort in situtions like these. My job is education and exposing these heathens.
So I how did they get pass the screening algorithums to get on the ad networks. Its starts with a fake website like this. If there a real www.zipeconomy.org out there, you have been spoofed.
But this latest one finally hit my nerves that I saw on the NY Post website. The shamelessness of this species of human makes me want to help the white hats out there, by exposing their trickery.
Here is the anatomy of the latest scam and it’s a doozy.
This plays on our Canadian patriotism, when I click on it I was lead to a fake CBC page that touts a new Canadian Government investment fund using AI. Also the URL used in the ad is mostly like a fake website to fool the algorithums with its non-profit URL. www.zipeconomy.org. The most likely victim of this type of scam is somebody age 60+ that is less digital savvy, except me of course.
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Cybercrimes like this are growing and fast, in a Statistics Canada November 2025 Report - Police-reported cybercrimes more than doubled from 2018 to 2024, with fraud and extortion making up the majority of cases. According to the report, over two-thirds of Canadians experienced a cybersecurity incident. There were 225.1 police-reported cybercrimes per 100,000 Canadians in 2024, more than twice the rate in 2018 (91.9 cybercrimes). The first half of 2026 saw over 40,000 cybercrimes reported. This is a global problem as the bad actors that are posting these scams are most likely not in Canada.
According to a FBI 2024 Internet Crime Report the Cybercrime industry did over $16 billion in business up from $4 billion in 2020 in the USA. There were over 25 types of scams reported. The top 5 were Phishing/Spoofing, Extortion, Personal Data Breach, Fake Product Scams and Investment. Investment scams had the most losses in 2024 at $6.5 Billion. According to the report the money is going to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Mexico, Philippines, India and China.
Now with AI, cybercriminals have a new tool and this scam I uncovered is just the beginning. Thus the new Chapter " The Tragedy of the Commons on the Interent". The latest press cycle has AI associated with doomsdayer predictions from the inventors/CEO of the tech as military and hacker use of AI grows. (Or can this be invented story, just prior to the USA midterms, who know if this is true)
You know the old days of media this would never happen, as advertisers were checked out before ads were accepted and they were legit companies. This is not true in ad networks as anybody can post an ad and that can fool the algorithms like this one. A simple hacking technique that has been used for ions, fake media site.
Come you guys with all the profits your are making on these ads, it is time for some action instead taking a blind eye to this behaviour on your ad networks. If this ad appeared in traditional media they would be sued, why can’t the ad networks be liable too. They can’t have their cake and eat it to. The ads placed are paid through the proceeds of crime that makes them party to the crime. Some good lawyer can make an argument with that I hope and take the big guns on in a class action.
Come you guys with all the profits your are making on these ads, it is time for some action instead taking a blind eye to this behaviour on your ad networks. If this ad appeared in traditional media they would be sued, why can’t the ad networks be liable too. They can’t have their cake and eat it to. The ads placed are paid through the proceeds of crime that makes them party to the crime. Some good lawyer can make an argument with that I hope and take the big guns on in a class action.
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About Me
Martin Seto
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reflexmediasales.com or 416-907-6562, and on LinkedIn.
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| Lorene Shyba says: | |
Full of terrific information, Thanks!... |
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