FSB and Yandex deceiving Russians to collect data on those wanting to join Russian volunteer formations in Ukraine
Pravda Ukraine
Russian activists and media believe that several websites, which are copies of the sites of the Freedom of Russia Legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps, are actually FSB traps.
Source: Meduza, a Latvian-based Russian media outlet
Details: These websites appeared at the top of Yandex’s search results but were not shown in Google’s search results, and simultaneously collected data from those potentially interested in joining the organisations.
Russian IT specialists are convinced that Yandex is deliberately promoting fake websites that may be linked to Russian security forces, and they have accused the company of collaborating with the FSB.
Currently, the fake websites are inaccessible, but cached versions still occupy the top spot in Yandex’s search results.
Volunteers fighting within the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed that these are not their websites.
The fake sites differed from the genuine ones by just one letter in the domain, a typical phishing attack tactic often used by scammers to steal money or personal information.
One of the IT specialists noted that unlike the real websites, these fake sites did not include details for donations. Instead, both sites featured a form for collecting data, such as gender, age, contact information, and location of the respondent. It was intended that users could submit this information themselves through these forms.
However, it cannot be definitively stated who exactly created or maintains these sites. The fake Freedom of Russia Legion website was registered in December 2023, and the Russian Volunteer Corps website in August of the same year. All information was hidden during the domain registration.
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