There's an increasing trend in Ukraine where scammers are creating fake chatbots that mimic government and volunteer services. The primary aim of these actions is to obtain sensitive information or steal personal data and money.
Detecting and blocking these fake pages is challenging. The cyber police are working on it, but for every bot taken down, a new one appears.
Chatbots like ChatHero for reporting military movements have several clones. Similarly, Ticket24 for purchasing transport tickets has at least a few fakes. Some of these clones may simply be inactive, but they can lead to issues when you need to buy a ticket urgently. All these bots are uncontrolled, and their creators might change the purchasing mechanism to a fraudulent one.
How can you tell if a bot is genuine?
Here are some signs of fake bots:
- They look almost identical to the real bots but have an extra character in the name or link.
- They lack the blue verification badge or have a counterfeit version that might look similar.
- They may communicate in Russian or have a Russian-language menu.
- They might not work, giving the impression that government services are poorly designed.
To check if a bot is real, use the Bot Checker tool on Dovidka.info.
What is Bot Checker?
Bot Checker is a database of verified chatbots developed by experts from the Center for Strategic Communications in collaboration with the cyber police.
Since its launch, over 100,000 users have utilized Bot Checker. Launched in 2022, it helps people identify fake services. For instance, there have been cases where scammers cloned a bot for military course registrations to obtain personal data.
How does Bot Checker work?
- Enter the name or link of the chatbot in the search field.
- Receive information about its authenticity and developer.
- If the bot is not in the database, report it to the cyber police via the @stopdrugsbot chatbot.
Be cautious! Protect your data from scammers!