Imitors are pointing to companies with false dissemination of Techcrunch

Hello, thanks as always for reading Techcrunch. We want to talk to you quickly about something important.

We have discovered that scammers are going through TechCrunch reporters and potential events of events and reaching companies, pretending to be our staff when they absolutely are not. These bad actors are using our name and reputation to try to deceive offsembled companies. He drives us crazy and enrages us in his name.

Anecdotally, this is not only happening to us; The scammers are exploiting the confidence that comes with established news brands to set foot on the door with companies from all over the media industry.

Here is an example of the most common scheme that we have been tracking: the imposters that pass through our reporters to extract confidential commercial information from unsuspecting objectives. In several cases we know, scammers have adopted the identity of the real staff members, preparing what seems like a standard consultation of the media on the products of a company and requesting an introductory call.

Acute eyes recipients sometimes capture discrepancies in email addresses that do not coincide with the credentials of our royal employees. But these schemes evolve rapidly; The bad actors continue to refine their tactics, imitating the writing styles of the journalists and referring to the starting trends to make their releases more and more convincing. Equally worrying: victims who accept telephone interviews tell us that scammers use those calls to dig for even more owners.

Why are they doing this? We do not know, although a reasonable assumption is that these are groups that seek initial access to a network.

As for what to do about it, if someone communicates with the statement of being from Techcrunch and even has the slightest doubt about whether they are legitimate, not only take their word for it. We have facilitated verification.

Start reviewing our staff. It is the fastest way to see if the person who contacted really works here. If the individual’s name is not on our list, you have your answer right there.

If you see someone’s name on our staff, but the description of our employee’s work does not face the request he is receiving (that is, a TechCrunch copies editor is suddenly very interested in learning about his business!), A bad actor is trying to deceive him.

If it sounds like a legitimate application, but you want to make it double safe, you should also feel free to contact us directly and just ask (you can learn how to communicate with each writer, editor, sales executive, marketing guru and member of the event team in our BIOS).

We know that it is frustrating to have to verify the media consultations, but these groups say they do not take that additional step. Being aware of verification, he is not only protecting his own company, but is helping to preserve the confidence on which legitimate journalists depend to do their job.

Thank you.