Fake shopping websites entice internet users to visit them and present offers that seem too good to be true. In this article, you’ll learn how to spot them and protect yourself from the scams they hide.
This kind of websites represent a a powerful way for hackers to trick many people. Cyberthieves develop and publish such websites, which may look genuine. Some of them replicate famous retailer web pages.
What are fake shopping websites?
Although they might seem really appealing for users, due to the extra-low prices, you will never get the quality you hope for. In fact, these are websites that replace high-quality goods with cheap fakes.
Still, although the prices are much lower than those of the big brands they impersonate, they are definitely higher than the products sold are worth. Moreover, besides making easy money by selling fake products, hackers have another goal.
At the time of purchase, they record the victim’s bank details. Also, in order to achieve their goals, villains may even use formjacking. This means that they inject damiging JavaScript code into the payment forms of legitimate websites. Thus, they collect custmer’s card details.
They then withdraw money from victims’ accounts or use their credentials to buy really valuable goods online.
How to stay away from these websites?
In order to stay safe, you should be able to recognize this kind of websites. So, you need to pay attention to the web addresses.
Any redirect bringing you to an usecured page, that only has “http://” in the URL, should alert you. This is the first thing, but it is usually accompanied by another: incredibly low prices for the products sold.
So, if you immediately close such pages and never insert your banking credentials, you should be safe.
Anyway, downloading and using a trusted antivirus software will alert you of any potential unsecure web pages. Always pay attention to any new e-commerce websites that ask you to pay using a third-party payment platform. Only trust legitimate and popular websites.
