Cyber criminals capitalising on brand typos

Fake websites like 'JohLewis.com', 'Debenahams' and 'Argoss' are tricking unlucky users into giving up personal data and security information, reports The Inquirer.

Fast typers (or poor spellers) may become the victims of identity fraud after scammers continue to lap up mis-spelt domain names for financial advantage.

New research suggests that over 2,000 websites use mis-spelt names of famous brands to sweep up personal information and instead of normal firms taking personal information in return for a service, "these will just take your data to use it unlawfully".

Elad Sharf, a security expert, commented on the situation: "Cybercriminals are scary smart at enticing Christmas shoppers to unwanted sites. Whilst this looks like a consumer problem, typosquatting also puts company confidential data at risk as many employees shop from work computers at lunch time."

Hopefully, firms will have suitable computer support software to block any dodgy sites from being accessed, thus protecting the user as well as the company.

Furthermore, The Inquirer takes the time to visit one of these websites and complete a survey after being told they had "won something". It is likely valuable information will be gathered from this survey and used for no good.

"Careful typing helps," claims Sharf to scmagazine.co.uk, "but will never be enough, so it's highly recommended that companies install real-time email and web security."

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