A PR agency representative offered guaranteed placement on a website impersonating Forbes for $10,000, according to a recorded sales call obtained by Press Gazette. Forbes later confirmed that forbesla.com has no connection to the company and said it is taking action against it and another site posing as a Forbes publication.
The two fake Forbes sites publish dozens of stories a day under bylines with little or no apparent presence elsewhere online, Press Gazette first reported. Reporters Nathan Pine and Liam Redmond appear to have no social media profiles. AI detection tool Pangram classified one of Redmond’s articles as entirely AI-generated.
Press Gazette also reported that Identifai flagged the byline photo of Harriet Caldwell, described by Forbes Liechtenstein as an experienced news editor, as AI-generated. Her articles were also flagged as likely to have been generated by AI.
The sales pitch extended beyond the fake Forbes sites. Baden Bower, a public relations agency that promises clients guaranteed media coverage, was the company whose representatives offered the placements documented by Press Gazette. One representative, Zac, offered placement in the Los Angeles Times, said The Guardian and The New York Times were the only publications where he could not secure coverage, and quoted $9,900 for a Bloomberg TV interview with an Emmy-winning journalist. He also suggested paid articles could help applicants seeking U.S. skilled worker visas.
A second Baden Bower representative, Camilo, said he was unaware of Forbes LA and that the agency works only with licensed regional Forbes editions. He quoted $25,000 for Forbes US, $2,000 for Forbes Georgia and $100,000 for The Wall Street Journal.
Asked whether paid placements are labeled as promotional, Camilo said, “Some are, some are not.” He also claimed Baden Bower has commercial relationships with more than 1,980 publications, including Press Gazette. Press Gazette said it has never published a sponsored article from the company.
Much of the content on the fake sites promotes companies, including Baden Bower itself. One Forbes Liechtenstein article, which Pangram classified as entirely AI-generated, projects that the agency will reach 7,600 clients and 90,000 published stories by the end of 2026 and quotes company leader AJ Ignacio touting its commercial results.
Sponsored. Journalists, PR pros and communicators: the fall cohort of AI for Media starts October 13, six live Tuesday sessions with Pete Pachal plus two 1:1 coaching calls. Code AISEARCH500 takes $500 off the $1,500 price for anyone who found the course through AI search, a bigger discount than is offered anywhere else.
Baden Bower then cites that article on its own website as evidence of its standing, alongside pieces from an AI-generated Philippines edition of Fast Company and an apparent fake German edition of Vanity Fair.
The sites are not new. The Internet Archive shows Forbes LA online since January 2025 and Forbes Liechtenstein since March 2025. The London office listed by Baden Bower has a single contact number, a mobile number that appears to be disconnected.
For publishers, the risk is to the masthead itself. Fake sites can cheaply trade on the authority of established news brands, turning their names and reputations into promotional inventory. The model echoes fake AI news networks built to game search results and fabricated AI expert profiles reaching real reporters, but extends the problem into the PR industry.
Sarah Waddington, CEO of the Public Relations and Communications Association, said the practice violates industry standards on transparency, honesty and earned credibility. Former BBC journalist Omar Hamdi, who first noticed founders sharing fake Forbes coverage on LinkedIn, said the promotional tone of the articles raised his suspicions.
For newsrooms, the simplest defense may be basic verification: check that the publication behind a citation actually exists before trusting it.
