Fake News Site Targets New Zealand Prime Minister for ‘Bitcoin Revolution’ Pump Scheme

The photograph of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been in sponsored Facebook ads by a fake news site aimed at pumping a crypto startup.

According to reports from inside New Zealand, the perpetrators ran several sponsored posts on Facebook featuring the image of the PM. The site posed as CNN Tech pushing articles with headline such as “New investment plan for Kiwis” and targeted at different age groups in the country.

The fake news site also had articles falsely claiming that the country's Treasury Department had just signed a $250 million deal to buy a company called Bitcoin Revolution.

“This is where the future lies,” the fake article read.

However, the posts were soon reported to Ardern's office, where they filed a complaint to Facebook, which then moved to take down the sponsored content, the report said.

It appears that this is not the first time that fake news sites have associated the image of Ardern with cryptocurrency promotions.

A spokeswoman for the PM's office was quoted as saying that the number of such fake ads has become too large for them to track.

They said: “We aren't able to manually or digitally monitor the increasing volume of fake news that fraudulently uses images of the Prime Minister.”

The news is yet another instance in which crypto scammers have been using social media giants to promote fake campaigns targeting internet users. Another incident is the report that said a verified Twitter account impersonating entrepreneur Elon Musk had been allowed to promote a tweet for a crypto giveaway scam.