TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Attorney General Ashley Moody on Thursday warned Floridians who are holiday shopping online to be wary of phishing websites designed to look like a company’s legitimate website.


What You Need To Know

  • Be on the lookout for scam websites when shopping online, official says

  • Fake retail sites can jump 20% during the holidays, Webroot reports

  • Check the web addresses for slightly altered names, Florida's attorney general says

  • Retailers who see suspicious site names similar to theirs should report them, she says

Moody cited a Webroot threat report that said traffic to fake websites spikes during the holiday season, as much as 20% on some of the popular shopping days. 

“Last year, online shopping saw record-breaking numbers, and there is a good chance that this year will be similar,” Moody said in a statement. “With millions of people searching online for holiday gifts, it is no wonder that scammers are creating fake websites to steal their money. All it takes is a simple letter change, extra space or a wrong click for a consumer to visit a fraudulent website. Be extra cautious this holiday season of the websites you visit and make sure to only give financial information to trusted sites.”

Moody encouraged Floridians to stay on the lookout for websites that are not what they seem to be and may be a character or two off from the sites they are trying to reach.

She provided a sample from Phishlabs of the types of changes that can be made to official website names to create fraudulent websites.

(Courtesy Phishlabs via Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody)

 

Moody also encouraged retailers to search online for websites with similar URLs to their own because websites that resemble a retailer’s website may result in a consumer accidentally giving financial information to scammers.

To protect Floridians from falling victim to fake-website scams, Attorney General Moody offers the following tips:

  • Pay close attention to the website address to ensure the correct page is visited
  • Refrain from clicking on website links from unknown sources 
  • Research an online store before buying anything from it—check for authenticity; 
  • Stick to trusted sites, many of which are listed on the Better Business Bureau’s online shopping directory. 
  • Companies should consider registering domains with slight variants to the companies’ designated domain, in an effort to prevent scammers from creating fake websites using the slight domain variations.