Agents of the National Police have blocked web pages that cloned the portals of renowned clothing brands, to defraud victims by taking advantage of the increase in purchases during the Christmas season.
Article continues below
The scammers created pages that replicated the header, logos and layout of the original brands and promoted them through ads on social networks, which allowed the user to be redirected to the fraudulent website in a single click.
They registered the domains with companies in third countries, mainly American and Asian, hosted the pages on servers in the United States and made the payment through a business based in Brazil.
The experts from the Cybercrime Unit warn that we must be cautious when faced with offers on popular items with large discounts, be careful with offers that arrive through email or social networks and check that the URL we enter matches exactly with the official one. of the store
The investigation began following complaints from citizens through fraudinternet@policia.es, an account in which communications are received from citizens reporting scams through the Internet or fraud in electronic commerce.
The modus operandi consisted of, through phishing and spoofing techniques, replicating web pages of well-known clothing brands, offering products with striking discounts, at a price well below the market value.
Once the purchase was made, the order never reached the customer, despite having been charged for it.
The pages created to deceive victims were promoted through ads on social networks such as Facebook and Instagram, which allowed the user to be redirected to the fraudulent website in a single click.
In addition, the pages replicated the header of the marketing campaigns along with the logos and layout of the original pages.
To confuse the victims, they used names very similar to those of the original brand, introducing or eliminating a barely perceptible character, or registering the page under domains with a .shop ending, to give the impression that it was the end of the pages. on-line.
To give credibility to web commerce, SSL certificates were used that encrypt the data entered and use the HTTPS protocol, and which in turn displays a padlock in the navigation bar, which until now was given as an indicator of a trusted site.
The scammers registered the domains with companies in third countries, mainly American and Asian, hosted the pages on servers in the United States and made the payment through a business based in Brazil.
They took advantage of the Christmas season when a greater number of purchases
ccur
These types of websites proliferate during times of high demand for the products offered, in this case with the intention of taking advantage of discounts related to the well-known Black Friday, extending the fraud until Christmas.
In the weeks prior to Black Friday, more than two hundred complaints were registered with the National Police.
After analyzing the first emails, common patterns could be observed that have made it possible to connect the complaints filed in the four weeks prior to the beginning of the Black Friday discount period.
However, it should be noted that there are many affected people who, due to the value of the economic damage caused, do not account for the facts, which prevents us from having a real estimate of the number of people affected.
On the other hand, and with the intention of preventing potential victims from accessing these fraudulent pages, researchers have implemented measures aimed at blocking them in collaboration with the domain registration companies.
Likewise, thanks to the measures implemented, it has been verified how complaints regarding the domains under investigation have ceased, preventing the materialization of new frauds. ■