Like every seasonal e-commerce date, Consumer Day is also targeted by digital criminals. The discount season that takes place this March 15 already has its scams in progress, with around 15 fake websites being created every day to impersonate stores and carry out fraud in the sale of products to obtain personal, financial and credit card data. credit.
The survey was carried out by Redbelt Security, a consultancy specializing in digital security. The data shows not only the high incidence of phishing, but also how this is a valuable internal market for cybercriminals themselves, who sell services focused on carrying out scams. Thus, even those who do not have the necessary resources or knowledge can practice fraud.
Through publications in forums, groups in instant messengers and even videos on YouTube, layouts of false pages that pretend to be e-commerces or financial institutions are sold from R$ 200. In some cases, the criminals also offer the services hosting or management, with the value of a complete coup in this category reaching R$ 3,000; the expectation of earnings, of course, is much higher than that.
The search, of course, is for systems similar to those of large online stores, which also dialogues daily with the daily creation of domains that try to impersonate large retailers in the country, banks and other financial institutions. In addition, according to the study, there is an increasing interest in buying ads in search engines, so that fraudulent results appear above the legitimate ones at the time of searches.
Pix is the preferred payment method, with many of the fraudulent pages displaying below-market prices for products in this mode; the money, of course, goes straight into the scammers’ pockets. Redbelt’s survey also draws attention to scams that happen “live”, with the bandit operating the fake website in real time. Upon detecting the insertion of information, it is notified and starts to demand more data while making purchases and financial transactions on behalf of the victim.
Not just on Consumer Day, but in every online purchase, Redbelt’s recommendation is for attention. The ideal is not to risk it and only make purchases and enter data when making sure that the offers are real and that the site accessed has security protocols, indicated by the lock icon in the address bar. Links received through social networks, emails or messaging apps may be suspicious.
When making payments, it is important to verify data and pay attention to the information entered, preferably only on official websites or applications from the stores or banks themselves. If you are a victim, it is ideal to change passwords and other credentials immediately, in addition to informing the bank and other financial institutions so that suspicious transactions are blocked and do not cause further damage.
