Most people in Luxembourg are all too familiar with the daily barrage of phishing attempts: fake emails, bogus prize draws, or even fraudulent letters supposedly from the police.
But scammers have now gone one step further. This time, the trick takes the form of an AI-generated advertisement disguised as serious journalism.
The fake article, designed to lure readers into clicking a suspicious link, claimed to feature an interview with RTL journalist Mariette Zenners. In this fabricated “broadcast” of Kloertext with presenter Caroline Mart, Zenners allegedly explained how a €250 investment could magically transform into €1 million within 12 to 15 weeks through the platform “TokenCore.”
In order to seem real, the interview appears to be published on the official Tagesschau website.
The scam goes further still: it asserts that Zenners had even tried to pay €20,000 to keep the platform’s name secret, only to “accidentally” mention it live on air. The entire interview was manufactured so that it appears to be published on the Tagesschau website. Screenshots were doctored to make it appear that Caroline Mart herself had instantly earned money via TokenCore, and that the live programme had to be cut short when the Luxembourg Central Bank supposedly called the newsroom.
From the fake "Kloertext" broadcast, the screenshot reveals how the article presented itself as being about "Forum", but started off with"Illner" initially.
The fabricated article even dragged in Germany’s Tagesschau. To boost credibility, the fraudsters claimed that Tagesschau’s editor-in-chief personally tested the cryptoplatform and pocketed thousands in profits. One image even showed a falsified BGL BNP Paribas bank statement boasting €35,564.63 earned from an initial €270 investment.
A scam through and through
The scammers pretended the report had been published on the broadcaster’s website, under the headline “TV-Eklat bei Illner” (“TV scandal at Illner”), oddly referencing German presenter Maybrit Illner, who has nothing whatsoever to do with RTL's Kloertext.
Needless to say, none of this is true. The fabricated broadcast is riddled with telltale clues, a scam cobbled together purely to draw clicks with the promise of quick riches, while shamelessly dragging in the names of well-known public figures.
If you come across messages or articles like this on Facebook or elsewhere, the safest course of action is simple: don’t click, don’t believe, and do report.
Examples of previously identified scams
Past examples have featured fake “interviews” with prominent Luxembourgish figures such as Jean-Claude Juncker or Lynn Cruchten.
