COP30 has started in Belém, in the Amazon, and along with the climate summit a series of scams built right around the event. According to Kaspersky, they have already been identified in the first few hours over 30 fake sites created to intercept those looking for information, accommodation or forms related to the conference. Meanwhile in Brazil, phishing attacks have increased by80%a signal that the situation is broader than a single episode.
How scammers exploit COP30
There is a huge traffic of people moving around the conference who need to register, book or request information. This makes it easy to insert fake pages that imitate institutional bodies, hotels or official platforms. Many of these sites have attention to detail: clean graphics, well translated text and domains that recall the real ones. The goal is simple: push the user to share data, documents or payments.
A report from ESET also confirms the picture, which in recent weeks has reported an increase in scams related to accommodation reservations. Belém is not a well-known tourist destination and this further complicates the checks. Tools like Telekopyea bot that generates credible copies of booking portals, make fake sites even more difficult to recognize.
From “official” pages that aren’t official to ghost hotels
One of the most used methods involves fake institutional sites that imitate government portals or conference pages. Above all, journalists, officials, NGOs and companies that need official registrations are targeted. The collected data — contacts, roles, documents — are then reused for impersonate the personor to create AI-manipulated content for blackmail purposes.
Another front concerns the ghost hotel. The demand for accommodation is very high and criminals offer non-existent rooms through portals that reproduce photos, descriptions and rates in a very credible way. The victim pays thinking he has found a convenient solution for the summit, but only discovers the deception upon arrival.
To complete the picture there are the forms for volunteersoften identical to the originals, even requiring scanned documents. With this material it is possible to build complete digital identitiesthen used for other crimes.
Many of these sites have a recurring flaw: minimal structure. Just browse a few pages to find broken links or empty sections.
At the same time, disinformation is also growing: according to the Danida Fellowship Center, false content related to COP30 has increased by 267% between July and September 2025.
How to protect yourself without complicating your life
Here are some simple but effective checks:
The conference should be a moment dedicated to climate, not an opportunity to steal money and digital identities. With a little extra attention it is possible to avoid most of the risks.
