A digital traffic display on one of Los Angeles\u2019 busiest freeways was hacked to promote a menacing website targeting enemies of Iran\u2019s Islamic regime \u2013 a chilling breach that has put Iranian dissidents in the city on edge.<\/p>\n
Passersby spotted the sign on the 405 Freeway near Persian Square in Westwood blaring the web address goorkan.info, a site advertising a \u201cnational campaign to identify and punish traitors to the homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The site described itself as \u201ca collective and patriotic effort to identify, introduce, and punish traitors to the country and supporters of hostile actions against the soil and people of Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n
An exit sign on the 405 freeway in Santa Monica is shown, after Iranian Americans claimed the sign was hacked by the Iranian regime to promote anti-dissident propaganda. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n
The traffic sign is operated by the California Department of Transportation, which acknowledged the disturbing takeover and unauthorized message.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Caltrans project team was alerted to the unauthorized message Sept. 15, and alerted the contractor to restore normal operations,\u201d the agency said.<\/p>\n
\u201cReview\/field investigation of the message and access history is ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Screenshots from the Emel Karsaz website goorkan.info are shown.<\/p>\n
The website has been linked to Iran\u2019s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite military force designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization in 2019. \u201cGoorkan\u201d means \u201cgravedigger\u201d in Farsi.<\/p>\n
The disturbing breach comes as the FBI warned on Sept. 15 that Iranian state cyber actors were targeting dissidents, activists and journalists around the world.<\/p>\n
The alarm comes months after the Trump administration began cracking down on Iranian nationals with ties to the regime, including relatives of senior Iranian figures who had been living in the US. Among those targeted was Eissa Hashemi, the son of former Iranian vice president Masoumeh Ebtekar <\/a>\u2014 notoriously nicknamed \u2018Screaming Mary\u2019 by American hostages during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis \u2014 who had been living in the Los Angeles area before his green card was revoked.<\/p>\n Los Angeles is home to the largest Iranian community outside Iran, with an estimated 141,000 Iranian Americans living in LA County. <\/p>\n Many settled in and around Westwood following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, transforming the neighborhood into a hub of Persian restaurants, markets and businesses that\u2019s become known as \u2018Tehrangeles.\u2019<\/p>\n The hacked sign was spotted by Iranian-born real estate broker Payam Shiravi, 59, at the Santa Monica Boulevard exit on Sept. 8 as he drove north on the 405 Freeway.<\/p>\n Shiravi visited the chilling website and was horrified to discover people he knew among those targeted.<\/p>\n Screenshots from the Emel Karsaz website goorkan.info are shown.<\/p>\n Screenshots from the Emel Karsaz website goorkan.info are shown.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe what I was seeing on the sign. I drove by a couple of times to make sure it was real,\u201d he told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s disturbing. People that I know, who I protest with, are on the website. It\u2019s putting a target on these innocent people.\u201d<\/p>\n Emel Karsaz, 48, an Iranian-born critic of the regime<\/a>, told The Post she was \u201cshocked\u201d to find her name, photo and personal details on the site.<\/p>\n She said she filed a report with the FBI\u2019s Los Angeles field office on Sept. 9.<\/p>\n Emel Karsaz poses for a photo in Los Angeles, California, Tuesday, May 19, 2026. Karsaz is pictured for a story about FIFA not allowing the pre-revolutionary war Iranian flag. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post<\/p>\n Screenshots from the Emel Karsaz website goorkan.info are shown.<\/p>\n \u201cI panicked. When I went on the website my heart started beating so fast,\u201d she told The Post. \u201cThis is America where you have free speech and lots of security. Why do I have to see this in LA?\u201d<\/p>\n Karsaz said the threats have left her afraid even thousands of miles from Iran.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel terrible,\u201d she said. \u201cI live in America far away from IRGC but now I don\u2019t feel safe anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n She claimed the organization is \u201cactively working in America \u2013 and that\u2019s scary.\u201d<\/p>\n Karsaz said she has already received chilling threats on social media, including one targeting her appearance.<\/p>\n They told her: \u201cOh, you have green eyes \u2013 just enjoy it because you might not have them the next day \u2013 you may not have any face left. Watch out \u2013 you may not have the pretty face tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n The threats have left her terrified of being attacked with acid while walking around Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very cautious on the streets of LA. I walk with fear. I don\u2019t want them to throw acid in my face.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey are asking people to identify us so they can harm us back there and take away anything we have there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The FBI would not confirm whether it was investigating the freeway sign hack.<\/p>\n The website abruptly changed this week, adding a section called \u201cThe Burn List\u201d containing an ominous message suggesting its operators had amassed sensitive information about their targets.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no need to draw a map anymore; the network has been opened from within,\u201d its description reads. \u201cFrom your everyday chats to your visa and residency status, everything is locked on our servers. Every contract, every wire transfer and every midnight call is now a document in a file that can no longer be denied.\u201d<\/p>\n Shiravi alleged the IRGC already has operatives inside the US, claiming its agents can be spotted at demonstrations attended by opponents of the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n \u201cThey already have agents here,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can tell who they are \u2013 you don\u2019t need X-ray vision. You can tell by their vocabulary, by attire and their behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n Shiravi further alleged undercover IRGC agents \u201cshow up to protests with long lens cameras and use facial recognition technology supplied by China.\u201d<\/p>\n The freeway sign breach follows a major March cyberattack on LA Metro<\/a> that disrupted passenger-information and payment systems and resulted in the theft of at least 700GB of data. Israeli researchers attributed that attack to Iranian state-linked hackers.<\/p>\n