Black Friday: fraudulent sites imitate big brands and offer discounts of up to 80%… here's how to recognize them

In the run-up to Black Friday 2024, which will take place on November 29, 2024, a Chinese cybercriminal group known as “SilkSpecter” has orchestrated a massive scam campaign targeting European and American consumers, creating more 4700 fraudulent e-commerce sites. Lidl, Ikea and The North Face are among the brands imitated by cybercriminals, according to the Phonandroid site, taken over by Capital. The goal? Steal your banking details.

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Black Friday: countdown, stocks soon to be exhausted… on the internet, beware of “dark patterns”, these commercial manipulation techniques

Here's how to recognize these sites

To trap customers, all the criteria are met: the sites appear very high on search engines, have similar domain names and, for some, even display a secure connection. So how to recognize them? Just look at the extensions used by experts in domain names: if they end with “. shop”, “. top” or “. store”, it is because they are a priori fraudulent sites according to experts cited by Phonandroid. Another factor of suspicion: the fact that reductions of up to 80% are displayed. It is rare for brands to cut their prices to this extent.