Fake or cloned websites are tricking shoppers into making expensive mistakes

If you’re shopping online, best you have your wits about you because distractions or multitasking could be your undoing. Research into online scams in Africa has blamed a lack of vigilance as the most common factor contributing to people falling victim. And fraudsters, ahead of the curve, are capitalising on that inattention by cloning retail websites, using similar branding and URLs, to trick shoppers of legitimate outlets. 

Daily deals website, One Day Only, and Cape Union Mart have both warned that their sites have previously been cloned, advising shoppers to be extra vigilant.

Website cloning has a damaging effect on consumer trust in e-commerce, which is why retailers are educating customers and working with social media platforms and Google to remove cloned accounts.

One Day Only brand and campaign manager Jonathan Spencer says the problem has become out of hand, exacerbated in recent months by the ease of creating clones using AI, which enables anyone to create a new website within minutes. 

“It’s quite worrying that it’s so easily done. 

“Anyone can put prompts into an AI generator to clone a website, including the artwork. Within minutes, it just pops up.”

While branding and logos are mirrored, the URL is often the dead giveaway: in the case of One Day Only, which ends with .co.za, the URL would end with a .cn, .org or similar. 

One Day Only has been targeted on several occasions. 

To the unknowing — distracted people or the elderly — the site looks the same, which is why so many are falling victim to it. 

Spencer says across the retail landscape, online fraud and phishing attacks have become rife. 

“Many other retailers have had a problem with it before, which is why they warn customers to be on the lookout.”

Social media is a cesspit for scams: on Facebook, some clothing “retailers”, often with “Cape Town”, “Jozi” or “South Africa” suffixed to their name for SEO purposes, are catching unobservant shoppers — and racking up thousands of complaints. 

The sites advertise gorgeous products (using stolen images) at reasonable prices, with “free shipping” within SA. They may, or may not, be run by local online dropshipping stores but they take no responsibility for inferior quality or wrong orders. Those sites may have .co.za in the URL but usually are linked to scammers operating from China. 

Many customers are reporting that they received items that were vastly different from the photos, were poor quality, or had incorrect sizing. Refunds are refused and customers are required to return items, at their own expense, to China.

Instagram is another challenge: One Day Only has been forced to report numerous Instagram accounts cloning their website. 

The Cape Union Mart Group says it has recently become the target of an international scam. Group spokesperson Patuvuyo Mtiya said both Cape Union Mart and Poetry stores’ digital platforms were targeted by fraudsters who used fabricated social media adverts to direct traffic to fake websites, tricking customers into purchasing items from the bogus sites.

 “These fraudulent digital platforms are offering products at discounted prices, significantly lower than our standard rates. Despite our best efforts to combat this activity, these scams continue to pose a threat to our valued customers and the integrity of our proudly South African brands.”

Mtiya says while they were not the only company experiencing the fraud, they believe it is crucial to alert the public and take steps to protect consumers from falling victim to these scams.

“We encourage all consumers to exercise caution and take necessary precautions when shopping online,” Mtiya said. 

“The Cape Union Mart Group is committed to maintaining the highest standards of security and trust for our customers and will continue to work diligently to combat these fraudulent activities.”

Spencer adds that consumers can protect themselves from spoofing (fake websites), and angler phishing (impersonating trusted sources on social media), by using free online tools like WHOIS to check a website’s age, and Google’s safe browsing function to determine its trustworthiness.

Do your homework before buying online: Reverse search images, read Hello Peter and Google reviews, and click to check on the followers.

The problem of phishing attacks is now so pervasive that in the second quarter of 2024, one in 10 South Africans fell victim to them, according to a recent report by security awareness training platform KnowBe4.

Its survey of 800 people from eight African countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Ghana, Egypt, and Mauritius, identified prevalent patterns in online scam susceptibility. The participants, primarily working adults aged 25-44, highlighted external and internal factors that influence their vulnerability to scams. 

Nearly 40% of respondents said they had fallen for an online scam in the past year — 43% of victims were distracted and multi-tasking when they fell for the scam. The percentage of distracted or multi-tasking victims was higher in Nigeria and South Africa, at 53% and 46%, respectively. 

More than half (53%) of the respondents felt a significant or very significant impact on their lives. Most respondents said it took several months to recover after falling for an online scam.

When asked how much money they had lost in the scam, 40% of the victims said they lost the equivalent of $100 (R1,761), 30% lost between$100 and$1,000, and nearly 9% lost more than $1,000. DM