How I dealt with an organized smear campaign
Inside Coordinated Defamation Networks - The Damian Prosalendis Files
How I dealt with an organized smear campaign
What the Damian Prosalendis files reveal for coordinated defamation networks, how fake rumors spread online and the legal tribulations against false scam claims
In my case, starting in 2022, a series of fake scam articles spread online against my name with predatory and misleading titles such as "Damian Prosalendis Scam" or "Damian Prosalendis Fraud", in a blatant attempt to manipulate search engines and people into believing an unsubstantiated smear campaign.
Coordinated defamation networks use throwaway domains that hop jurisdictions, clusters of official-looking "cybercrime watchdog" or "consumer protection" sites that publish defamatory content in coordination.
This does not happen for informational purposes, as these sites do not have any official investigative capacity and publish anonymously or use fake avatars and fake names . They do not have an official address, company or VAT number.
They are completely ghost websites, that use the defamatory articles as a precursor to extortion.
"Pay us and we will take it down"
Every time the fake allegations have been repeated by a named, accountable party the outcome has gone the same way: damages paid for defamation, public apologies and retractions.
A notable case involves the Greek Newspaper Espresso which issued a formal retraction addressed to Damian Prosalendis on 22 September 2025, stating no criminal act had been committed. They apologized for misleading the public as well as for wrongfully implicating the brand Conclavio in internet fraud.
In another case the state news agency AMNA (Athens Macedonian News Agency) issued a formal correction instructing 20+ media outlets (Proto Thema, Naftemporiki, Fortune Greece, Huffington Post, Parapolitika, ERT, and others) to remove articles referencing Mr. Prosalendis and Conclavio in a list of fraudulent and shady entities.
In multiple instances in the Damian Prosalendis legal saga, legal notices led to retractions, corrections and apologies before the matter reached the courts.
Mike Mingos, a cybersecurity professional and founder of Tictac SA signed retraction on his personal website, dated 13 September 2025
Thomas Gratsounas & Ioannis Lolos, the hosts of the Greek Stin Ousia podcast, jointly signed written retraction plus published follow-up apology episode addressed to Damian Prosalendis on their YouTube channel
Nikos Papoutsis, a podcaster), who posted a video titled "is Conclavio a scam?" later went on an attorney-mediated retraction, on 24 February 2024, and to the publishing of a video titled “Apology to CONCLAVIO” on his channel.
A voluntary retraction video with written consent to republish on 9 February 2024 by commentator Vasilis Karypidis.
Additionally, the courts reached several further interesting judgments such as: "no criminal prosecution and no preliminary investigation against Mr. Prosalendis existed in Greece", further solidifying the basis for higher fines against the defendants as well as the publication of apologies on their social media channels and websites.