There are some well known ones, like L4sbot, that copy everything but they're upfront about it with bot in their name.
There are a few others more sneaky.
Do it young is the biggest thing.. once they're adults it's much harder because you're overcoming existing fear.
You only get a few days a year but we took them outside and let them watch, showed them we weren't scared.. they both find the pretty lights fascinating, and being able to see what is making the whistles and bangs helps I think.
Sometimes need to reinforce it with the younger one, although this year he's been mostly fine. The older one doesn't GAF.
The daily express isn't exactly known for it's accurate insightful reporting. The headline is mostly about scaring people, mostly elderly (their main readership) that their computer is about to stop working.