The number of phishing shopping websites increased by 178% on the eve of the peak shopping season!

There are all kinds of fake phishing websites on the Internet, and it is easy to be deceived if you are not careful. Especially during the shopping season, it is not only a busy period for sellers, but also a "good time" for scammers to set up phishing websites.

The holidays are approaching, and November is also a shopping festival in the U.S. The epidemic has led to a significant change in consumers' shopping habits, with most people turning to online shopping, which has also given e-tailers unprecedented development opportunities.

According to forecasts, online holiday shopping sales this year will reach a record $910 billion. Retailers are also very willing to take advantage of these shopping festivals to offer consumers preferential prices. However, at the same time, phishing website criminals also took the opportunity to exploit loopholes.

Recently, the cyber threat intelligence platform Check Point Research (CPR) released a set of data. Since October 2021, they have found an average of more than 5,300 different malicious phishing websites per week, the highest record since the beginning of 2021. So far, the data shows that compared with the beginning of 2021, it has increased by 178%.

Since the beginning of November, the global impact of these malicious websites has reached its peak, with an average of 38 companies' online sales affected each week.

(Image source: Check Point Research)

CPR found that the common method used by phishing websites is to start from emails. Emails with brand keywords such as "Cheap HandBags" or "Michael Kors" (the email address is irrelevant) are sent to customers, such as: "Fashion MK handbags are 85% off when you shop online today", "Michael Kors handbags are discounted up to 80%, high-end fashion, low prices", "Buy all Michael Kors handbags, wallets and purses up to 70% off".

Each email has links to similar websites, similar names, and similar registration dates, and most of them were registered around October 19, 2021. And their main activity time is from the second half of October, and they are active for several consecutive days. Some websites are active until the second week of November.

It can be seen from this that the scammers also have very clear goals. They hope to take advantage of the high consumption demand and low vigilance of consumers during the peak shopping season and take advantage of the opportunity to sneak in.

Such phishing websites are also prone to cause losses to sellers. After consumers are unfortunately deceived, it is difficult for most of them to find the scammers. Therefore, they can only point the finger at the relevant sellers, making the brands and sellers "scapegoats". This will have a certain degree of impact on the image and reputation of the brands and sellers.

In response to this situation, CPR also gave relevant suggestions: try not to click on links in unfamiliar emails. If you see an email with a promotion, you can directly check the official website. Don't believe in information about huge discounts. For example, it is absolutely impossible for an iPad to have an 80% discount , etc.

Neither buyers nor sellers can prevent phishing websites from appearing. So they can only start from themselves and be more vigilant. During the peak shopping season, sellers should remind consumers to click and buy from the official website as much as possible on their own web pages or in their promotions to avoid being deceived. This practice can not only serve as a reminder, but also make consumers have a better impression of the store.

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