One of the biggest online scams: 800 thousand. people gave their money and personal data to Chinese scammers | Business

More than 800 thousand people in Europe and the US may have been targeted by fraudsters who shared their card and other sensitive personal data with a huge chain of fake online designer stores operating in China.

An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Monde newspapers gives an inside look at what the UK’s Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the biggest scams of its kind. Fraudsters created 76 thousand for this. fake websites, The Guardian writes.

The data analyzed by journalists and IT experts shows that this operation is very well organized, intelligent and runs without interruption.

Large-scale hackers have created tens of thousands of fake online stores offering discounted items from Dior, Nike, Lacoste, Hugo Boss, Versace, Prada and many other premium brands.

These sites have been developed in various languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Swedish and Italian. The sites have no connection to the brands they claim to sell, and in many cases, users who spoke about their experiences said they received no goods at all, according to The Guardian.

The first fake chain stores appear to have been created in 2015. According to the data analysis, more than 1 million were executed in the last three years alone. “orders”. Not all payments were successful, but analysis suggests the group may have attempted to embezzle up to $50 million during this period. euros. Many of the shops eventually became abandoned, but a third of them – more than 22,500 – are still open.

Until now, approximately 800 thousand people, almost all of them in Europe and the US, shared their email. postal addresses, and 476 thousand of them shared debit and credit card details. All of them also gave their names, phone numbers, e-mails to the network. mailing and postal addresses.

The existence of the network of fake shops was revealed by the German cyber security consulting company Security Research Labs (SR Labs), which obtained several gigabytes of data and shared them with the publication Die Zeit.

“The Guardian” writes that this network was created in China’s Fujian province. Many IP (Internet Protocol) addresses can be traced back to China, some of them in the Fujian cities of Putian and Fuzhou.

Payroll documents found in the data show that the individuals were employed as developers and data collectors and were paid through Chinese banks. Three employment contract templates were also found listing the employer as Fuzhou Zhongqing Network Technology Co Ltd.