The UAE's state-run news agency said it has been cloned in an apparent attempt to spread fake news about the country.
Wam reported early on Tuesday that "attempts to fabricate the #WAM website have been made by unknown sources", according to a tweet in English.
Attempts to fabricate the #WAM website have been made by unknown sources. 1/2 #wamnews
— WAM English (@WAMNEWS_ENG) August 21, 2017
Its Arabic account went on to say that Wam "has warned users of heightened risk of cyber-attacks".
"The news agency has urged users to only use the link provided on their Twitter page when accessing their website", it wrote.
#تنبيه :
— وكالة أنباء الإمارات (@wamnews) August 21, 2017
بعض الجهات عملت على تزييف صفحات مشابهة لموقع #وام لبث أخبار ملفقة عن الدولة، لذا يرجى الرجوع فقط لموقعناhttps://t.co/KwNbLLVFy3
“Some organistions have been working on copying our website to published false news about the country."
Mohamed Al Rayssi, executive director of Wam, said a static image of the real site had been copied and used to design a clone. Using that, headlines and a fake story had been written then spread on social media.
“And it is not just us, it happened yesterday to Russia Today, before that to BBC, and France 24.
“So we have been warning about this, as such fabrications have increased in the past two days.”
He said the fabricated photo that appeared on Twitter is the only story that has been attributed falsely to WAM.
When asked who could be responsible, he said: “I don’t know who did it exactly because I haven’t seen the source. For sure it is parties holding a grudge against the country aiming to create tension and disturbance by publishing offensive news, for sure it is hostile parties.”
