Important announcement about Silence Media Network

It has come to the attention of Cision that a scam targeting PRs is coming from a company calling itself the Silence Media Network.

PR professionals at agencies and press offices are receiving offers laid out like invoices for press release distribution. The charge is likely to be either €580 or €1890, and the service promises to reach a wide audience through an ‘affiliate’ network.

Silence Media Network falsely lists CisionWire, the search and social optimised pressroom service rebranded as news.cision.com earlier this year, as an affiliate. Neither Cision, nor any of its services, are connected to Silence Media Network in any way.

G Data, the antivirus security solution company, investigated the service on its SecurityBlog. It attempted to track down the individuals behind Silence Media Network and found roots in the UK, US, the Netherlands and Cyprus. It concluded that anyone who receives a letter or invoice should ignore it and under no circumstance pay any money allegedly owed or accept any offers.

G Data explains the only time you should ever interact: ‘If you receive a court order […] you have two weeks to tick the box with “I object to this claim”. You do not have to fill out anything else, sign [at the bottom] and return it to the court.’

G Data also recommends not visiting Silence Media Network’s website as it may contain malware or phishing traps.

Cision is currently working to remove the falsified association.

If you would like more information or are unsure of what action to take in regards to Silence Media Network, please contact your account manager.