The "before and after" picture.
Right: Rotem Sela, left: Rotem after editing. (Photo: screenshot, from the Facebook page of the profile impersonating Rotem Sela)
This week, during a routine stroll through Facebook, a sponsored ad caught my eye in which the state's mami, aka Rotem Sela, is seen holding a box of vitamins while recommending a new method for losing weight.
In the ad, which spread over at least three pages, Rotem seemingly unfolds her tragic story as a fat girl who suffered from low self-esteem, until she miraculously managed to lose 24 kg in just two months, thanks to the revolutionary diet. It is evident that the text was written using AI, relying almost cynically on The trend of overflowing posts that has flooded the web since the MeToo revolution.
Next to Sela's name appeared the famous blue hoe, and in the comments to the post, countless testimonials from female consumers who also praise the product, each of them having a profile with a name, photo, friends, and a number of recent posts on the profile that make them look like completely legitimate users.
Now come on, we all know Rotem Sela and not from yesterday.
Love her, hate her, it doesn't matter, there isn't a person in the country who hasn't seen this girl's face plastered on every good piece of advertising, whether it's online, on TV or on billboards.
We know that Rotam Sela was never a complete girl.
So who are they actually trying to work on here?
Well, the Israeli Internet Association reveals in a fresh report from yesterday that many business accounts on Meta platforms have experienced hostile takeovers and cyber attacks in the past year. The report, written on the basis of hundreds of inquiries received at the association's helpline and other sources, describes a new pattern of takeovers and fraud that stood out especially during 2022 On meta platforms - Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp - in order to take control of their business digital assets and credit information in the system.
This is a serious and sophisticated phenomenon that disturbs many users of Meta in Israel and causes serious damage to business owners.
In the case of Rotem, it is not clear if the account was hacked, or if they simply created an impersonating profile for her, but the question that bothered me the most in this whole story is, is this a real product, and the Chinese who planned the campaign simply did it without an iota of understanding of the Israeli market, or is it a fraud Its job is simply to get people to click on ads and/or provide their credit information.
Either way, it is clear that the person who did this did not know who Rotem Sela was, and how the choice of her as the presenter of a fraud could not have been more crooked.
The artificial stupidity is exposed in its nakedness
Just as there's no way you don't know who Rotem Sela is, there's no way you haven't heard in recent months about ChatGPT, Dall-E, and countless other AI tools that are currently flooding the market with artificial, generic and boring content at best, or malicious at worst.
With the help of these engines, hackers can today build fake websites of companies that even a professional eye will have trouble distinguishing between them and the legitimate websites.
They can design spectacular ads, and plant malware in them that is activated as soon as surfers click on them.
In this way, huge traffic can be routed to the fake website, user data can be extracted, ransom attacks can be launched, and countless other malicious moves.
So with so many new capabilities at their disposal, you'd have to be really remiss not to do the most basic market research of knowing who the influencers are that you're working with, even if they're just pretenders.
In the case of Miri Mesika it still somehow made sense, after all, Miri was never as thin as Rotem.
But to come and scroll a story sucked from the triple finger of ChatGPT, which has no grip on reality, is another level of stupidity.
In the case of Miri Mesika, it was still somehow believable. (Photo: screenshot, from the Facebook page that used Miri Mesika's photos.)
In the post that Masika put up, she wrote: "Hello everyone, I receive a lot of messages related to an alleged advertisement that I "did" for a diet, so I now say unequivocally to everyone - there was no such thing. Anyone who enters the link will not receive a single pill either, because it is a scam." .
Apparently, anyone today can purchase a monthly subscription to a ransom service and start attacking individuals, companies and organizations, impersonate someone else or take control of their digital assets, and cause significant damage to the organization.
But if it's a hostile takeover, a basic understanding of the market won't hurt and on that front they completely missed out.
In both cases, it may have been more effective to fall for someone anonymous than public figures that the whole country knows, and indeed, this is also a very common practice.
On the other hand, if the whole goal is to get the viewer to click, these ads certainly did their job.
So what do you do if your account has been hacked?
If you have fallen victim to impersonation or your Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp account has been taken over, there is something you can do.
The hacker who did this will be hard to track down, but the person who is supposed to be responsible for your security on the platform is actually Meta itself.
But if you have ever tried to contact them, you probably know that it is not an easy task.
In order for someone there to take you seriously, you must write an official letter to Meta Israel.
It is recommended to document as much as possible the activity in the account and especially things that cause you direct harm, for example, posting products in your name, responding to other people's posts in your name, and contacting your friends through the fictitious profile.
That way you will be prepared for a tort claim, if you want to file one.
It is very important that the reference to Meta be made through a lawyer who understands Internet law and not to issue a letter from the neighbor's son for NIS 200 because that is how it will look.
The letter should be sharp and bring convincing arguments backed by references that prove the damage caused to you.
The letter must be sent by registered mail, personally addressed to the CEO of Facebook, Adi Sofer Thani, with an additional copy to the head of the legal department at Meta Israel.
Other surfers recommend trying to get a blue V. One of the criteria to receive such a V is when someone tries to impersonate you. However , in the case of Rotem Sela, the fact that the impostor's account had the Blue Boy himself could complicate matters even more. Let's hope it won't happen to you.
If all this doesn't help, you can always contact the Israel Internet Association's safe internet helpline.
Where do we go from here?
Idan Ring,
VP Community and Society of the Israel Internet Association calls on Meta Israel, as well as law enforcement agencies, to act against the phenomenon of impersonation: "Beyond the tangible and economic damage that the attack causes... the lack of adequate response and support from Meta creates distress and a great sense of helplessness.
Beyond that, citizens and business owners who are exposed to such criminal acts and frauds should receive protection and assistance not only from the commercial platform they use, but also from the law enforcement authorities and the state, as should happen if someone were to break into their offices or physical store.
We call on Meta and the enforcement authorities to study the findings of the review and its recommendations in order to help the public of business owners in Israel."
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