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Black Friday scam alert: <\/strong>CloudSEK on 27 November warned of a large-scale surge in fraudulent online shops set up to exploit Black Friday and year-end festive sales, uncovering more than 2,000 holiday-themed scam websites designed to imitate major retail brands.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n According to the <\/span>digital risk protection firm, <\/span><\/a>cybercriminals are operating one of the most extensive seasonal scam networks seen in recent years. The<\/span> fake stores<\/span><\/a> closely mimic well-known retailers, using recycled holiday layouts, countdown clocks, bogus trust badges, and manipulative pop-ups that simulate recent purchases to create a sense of urgency.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Researchers found that these sites harvest payment and personal information while redirecting transactions through attacker-controlled checkout pages, enabling quiet but effective financial theft.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cluster One includes more than 750 connected fake storefronts, notably including over 170 <\/span>Amazon-themed typosquatted domains.<\/span><\/a> These sites share identical festive designs and rely heavily on urgency tactics and misleading social proof. Many also load resources previously linked to phishing and malware campaigns.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cluster Two spans over 1,000 domains registered under the .shop extension, impersonating brands such as Samsung, Jo Malone, Ray-Ban, Xiaomi and others. These pages replicate a standardised Black Friday\/Cyber Monday template and follow the same spoofed checkout flow, pointing to the deployment of a mass-produced phishing kit.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nA mass-produced fraud ecosystem<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Two major scam clusters identified<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Social media ads and search tricks drive traffic<\/strong><\/h2>\n