Claim: Ghanaian lawyer, Tsatsu Tsikata, has revealed a new money-making investment scheme in a recent TV interview.
The lawyer has not granted any such interview. The website involved in the disinformation has a long history of cloning reputable websites, advertising false stories and then attributing it to famous persons to promote a crypto business.
Full Text
A web publication with the headline “SPECIAL REPORT: Tsatsu Tsikata’s Latest Investment Has Experts in Awe And Big Banks Terrified” was sighted on Facebook being promoted on a verified page, Peter Bol (inaccessible at press time) with a photo of famous Ghanaian lawyer, Tsatsu Tsikata as the featured image.
Following up on the link, one is led to a website that looks like a syndication website, GhanaWeb, but with some suspicious elements including intrusive pop-ups.
Details of the publication claim that “Ghana citizens are already raking in millions of dollars from home using this “wealth loophole” supposedly revealed by Tsikata.
It goes further to claim Mr Tsikata said, “You may have heard about this new cryptocurrency investment platform called BitIQ that’s helping regular people in Australia, Asia and North America build fortunes overnight. You may be sceptical because it sounds too good to be true,” in the interview.
Is the website legitimate and has the claim been endorsed by Lawyer Tsatsu Tsikata?
Verification
Cloning
Our checks show the website in question has cloned the appearance of GhanaWeb and the difference is shown below:
Ismail Akwei, Editor In Chief of AfricaWeb, the holding company of GhanaWeb told Dubawa that no such report has been published on their website describing the content as “fake”.
“We haven’t published any story like that and this isn’t the first time we have encountered dubious websites and individuals using GhanaWeb branding to propagate fake content. All readers of GhanaWeb should double-check the URL to be sure that they are visiting www.ghanaweb.com and not any other domain,” he said.
Website cloning is a common feature in mis/disinformation. A website may clone another with the hope of creating an impression of credibility for publications they put out.
False publication
Using Crowdtangle to search for possible other pages where the claim may have been repeated, it was discovered that a similar one had been attributed to former president John Mahama as well as Ghanaian actor John Dumelo.
The texts in the two instances were the same as what was used in the case of Tsatsu Tsikata, suggesting that those behind the scheme use different influential people to promote their websites.
In both instances, the websites appear to have cloned the homepage of Myjoyonline and the Ghanaian Times.
Screenshot of search results on Crowdtangle on a similar claim
John Dumelo, in a public Facebook post, debunked the claim.
“This is fake!!! I havnt granted any interview with Adom tv or Adom online about any investment with crypo or any other related investments! Thanks,” he posted on August 31, 2021.
On April 1, 2022, a former Communications Minister, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, also debunked the claim attributed to John Mahama in a Facebook post.
“It’s fake. It’s a crypto promotional strategy. They use popular people and fake reviews of crypto. This should tell you cryptocurrency is not fit for your investment. Be careful!,” his post read.
A similar report emerged about a Singaporean TV presenter, Lin Youyi who cautioned her followers against engaging the website.
“This is NOT a genuine article from The Straits Times, the big banks are not “terrified”, and I was not “left in disbelief” because this interview did not happen. Please do not give these scammers any money, and share this post with your friends and family in case anyone falls for it, her Facebook post of September 1, 2021,” her post read.
Link assessments:
An assessment of the story link found two web addresses, https://laugh-laugh.live/60-short-funny-motivational-quotes-to-laugh-about and . https://100isoproductions.com/, being used to redirect people to https://breeze-offers.com/immediate-edge to register for purported money-making scheme.
In the case of Tsatsu Tsikata, the three websites involved were found to have all been created in 2022. One in March, the other in May and the last one in June 2022.
The purported testimonies from the crypto businesses displayed on the right side of the website appear untrue as all the photos of the supposed beneficiaries are all stock images downloaded from the internet.
Examples include this, this, and this.
Conclusion
While DUBAWA awaits a response from Tsikata, evidence so far gathered shows it is highly unlikely that Mr Tsikata uttered the same words and expressions in an interview, as have other known public personalities like ex-president Mahama, and John Dumelo, all of whom have denied the claim anyway. The false publication was made by a network of clone websites involved in an old scheme of using the names and faces of famous people to attract people to sign up for purported crypto businesses.
