The site invited
200,000 French people to “get involved in Ukraine” for a remuneration of 5,000 euros.
It was from its official account on remuneration of 5,000 euros was discovered.
This site, described as a fake government site, was relayed on social networks by malicious accounts as part of a disinformation campaign, according to information communicated by the ministry to Agence France Presse.
The incriminated site, which was inaccessible at the end of the morning, offered volunteers to provide their contact details, giving priority to immigrants, while inviting discussions with “ Captain Paul, unit commander “.
Usurpation of an official Army website
The investigation benefited from the contribution of Viginum, the French organization fighting against foreign digital interference, as indicated by the office of Minister Sébastien Lecornu to Agence France-Presse (AFP). The ministry’s services, in collaboration with Viginum, mobilized to elucidate this information maneuver targeting France, denouncing in particular a usurpation of an official site of the army.
Fake websites are not a new phenomenon, but very often this phishing technique emerges during special events or popular sites, such as during tax filing season, with this fake tax site, or more recently this Booking .com larger than life which siphoned off the banking details of its victims.
The site was deactivated by French services, according to a government source informed by AFP. The ministry specified that the address http://sengage.fr is the only valid address for joining the army. However, on Thursday, no leads concerning the perpetrators of this fraud were officially designated by the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
A disinformation campaign about the French intervention in Ukraine
Despite this, a senior French official, speaking on condition of anonymity, suggested that this operation was ” the mark of a Russian or pro-Russian device ”, as part of a disinformation campaign aimed at insinuating that the French army is preparing to intervene in Ukraine against Russia. He pointed to narrative and methodological similarities with other recent attempts, such as the dissemination of images of French convoys allegedly heading towards the Ukrainian border on social media.
“ Everything converges: the narrative, the method. There is a maneuver “, he added.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is already the scene of a cyberwar, as evidenced by the cyberattack on
system of the Ukrainian operator Kyivstar in May 2023. France, caught in the crossfire, also finds itself affected by these attacks. On March 10 and 11, 2024, Russian cyberhackers stormed some of its ministries.
Paris, after having long adopted a defensive posture in the face of Russian informational assaults, has recently intensified its denunciation of the multiple attempts at destabilization which it attributes to Moscow with the aim of undermining the support of French public opinion for the Ukrainian cause.
Source : The Pixel World
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