ATTENTION, ATTENTION! FAKE NEWS!

In the past period, false news, false documents and e-mails have become more and more widespread and they’re final aim is to cause fear and panic among the population as well as to cause mistrust in the system and institutions.

The news published in some media about the allegedly adopted Decree, by the Government, dated from 27.04.2020, with which the primary and secondary schools in the Republic of North Macedonia continue to operate from May 18, 2020, was widely spread on social networks.

The Ministry of Education and Science denied such information, stressing that it was false information.  The F2N2 team has already researched this topic, and the link to that article can be found here.

Thus, the official denial of the Ministry of Education and Science emphasizes that the document was not prepared at all by the Ministry and adopted by the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, and that this topic was not discussed at all at government sessions in recent days. The Ministry further stated that for all decisions made by the institutions of the system in a coordinated manner during the state of emergency, the public is always informed in a timely manner by the services in charge of public relations.

Fake news was written by the Minister of Education Arber Ademi on his Facebook profile for the alleged Decree of the Ministry of Education for the start of the school year on May 18. He also posted a photo of the fake order crossed out in red.

This false information was preceded by another so-called “Humorous” report, which, since it was widespread, was characterized as false news. In this case, the photo from the e-mail was shared among the students, in which it was written that the classes in the faculties will start on May 11. However, university and college student councils soon responded that the information was false.

University Student Assembly – UKIM stated on its Facebook profile that this is fake news and that if the return of faculties and the start of classes are discussed, the students will be informed by the student representative bodies.

In addition to the false information about the continuation of classes in primary and secondary schools, as well as the continuation of the university year of the students, recently fake invitations were sent by e-mail, allegedly from the Ministry of Interior, with which the persons to whom such invitations were sent , are called to the Ministry of Interior for an alleged ongoing investigation. At the invitations there was a signature from the State Secretary of the Ministry of Interior, Magdalena Nestorovska. The text begins unusually for a police invitation.

“Compliments, We hope you are healthy and practice social distancing. With this notification, you are invited to the police of North Macedonia regarding the ongoing investigation. Please review the attached briefing documents and, if necessary, contact your attorney. “

Secretary of State Magdalena Nestorovska immediately reacted on her Facebook profile in which she wrote: “I would like to inform you that a forged letter is circulating via e-mail. He was neither sent nor signed by me, as Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior. It is a gross forgery in order to cause anxiety among the citizens ”!

The series of false information shared via e-mail is followed by a message allegedly sent by the Ministry of Health. The message contains a number of linguistic errors and was signed by a certain Dr. Admetos Jovanovska.

The Ministry of Health immediately denied and told the citizens not to fall under this manipulation. “Spreading the false information, especially in these times of crisis, is dangerous to the health and safety of citizens and harmful to society as a whole,” the health ministry said in a statement.

The Minister of Health Venko Filipce on the social network Twitter also appealed to the citizens not to believe to such manipulations because it is fake news and that the Sector for Computer Crime and Digital Forensics at the Ministry of Interior has already been notified.

A series of fake information was joined by a Twitter-shared list containing emails and passwords from employees of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy, published by an anonymous Twitter account called Powerful Greek Army.

The Government of the Republic of North Macedonia issued an official statement stating that “this is a list of several addresses and passwords from the former system for official e-mail addresses of the Ministries of Finance and Economy. Some of the e-mail addresses have not been in operation for many years because their users no longer work in the ministries, and the passwords of all published e-mail addresses are old and changed more than 7 years ago and the inboxes cannot be accessed througt the published passwords.
In both ministries, official e-mail systems have been updated since then, and protocols with complex codes for official e-mail addresses have been set, as well as other cyber security protocols on systems that reduce the risk and likelihood that the system will be compromised. At the moment, we have no evidence that the e-mail systems of the ministries have been hacked any time soon, we are examining all the details related to this case.”

According to this, it can be concluded that the citizens of the country are exposed on daily basis to false news that are widely spread on social networks as well as shared through electronic communication. It should be emphasized that the fake news covers sensitive topics such as education, health and safety of citizens and thus directly and harmfully affect the entire population of the Republic of North Macedonia regardless of its gender, religion, nationality, ethnicity or other belonging. Although it is not yet clear who is spreading such news, one thing is clear, the ultimate goal is to install fear and panic among the population, as well as to cause mistrust in the system and institutions.