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Cybersecurity firm CloudSEK has identified over 2,000 fraudulent online sites devised to take advantage of Black Friday and the end-of-year festive season shopping.
The company issued the warning about the holiday-themed scam domains on November 27. This is one of the largest seasonal fraud ecosystems identified in recent years.
These fake stores impersonate major retail brands with recycled festive layouts, countdown timers, bogus trust badges, and manipulative pop-ups crafted to push shoppers into hurried purchases.
Researchers at CloudSEK say these websites lure users into entering payment and personal details that are then siphoned off through attacker-controlled checkout flows, thus enabling seamless financial theft.
Investigators identified two major clusters. Cluster One consists of more than 750 interlinked fake storefronts, including more than 170 Amazon-themed typosquats. These sites use identical holiday designs, rely on urgency-based persuasion, and even load assets previously associated with malware operations.
Cluster Two is much larger, with over 1,000 domains in the .shop extension posing as Samsung, Ray-Ban, Jo Malone, Xiaomi and more. The consistency across templates and checkout patterns indicates a mass-produced phishing kit running the network.
According to CloudSEK, operators run short-burst social media ads, manipulate search results, and may circulate links through WhatsApp and Telegram groups. Each fraudulent store attracts a few hundred visitors quickly and converts 3% - 8%. That would make scammers earn $2,000 - $12,000 per site before the takedown.
Security researcher Ibrahim Saify warns that this transition from isolated scams to industrial-scale networks could lead to significant consumer losses. The victims suffer financial theft, possible fraud associated with their identities, and long-term misuse of data that has been leaked. For the brands, impersonation causes reputational damage, increased grievances from customers, and lost sales.
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Unrealistic discounts of 70% - 90%, flashy countdowns, misspelt URLs, fake trust seals, checkout pages redirecting to odd domains, repetitive layouts, and missing customer support details are some of the red flags. Experts recommend sticking to the official websites, verified apps, and trusted retailers.
CloudSEK calls upon retail, electronics, beauty, and lifestyle brands to monitor new domain registrations, track impersonation attempts, and deploy rapid takedown systems.
It further seeks regulators and cybersecurity bodies to flag high-risk hosting networks, coordinate with ad platforms in order to block scam campaigns, and ramp up public-awareness efforts with an aim to disrupt these expanding phishing clusters.
Will shoppers and brands act quickly to stop these scams from turning the festive season into a hunting ground for cybercriminals?
