Flipkart sales: Clone sites defraud buyers, steal personal data

Online sales launched to capitalise on the festive fervour have been marred by misleading advertisements, fake offers, and phishing scams. These malicious campaigns offer consumers unbelievably heavy discounts, such as high-end Apple iPhones for as little as Rs 99.
Several groups on WhatsApp and Telegram promote these too-good-to-be-true deals, leading unsuspecting users through a maze of groups and channels that ultimately results in fraud or disappointment.
These fake websites clone the entire interface of popular e-commerce platforms, offering products at discounts often deeper than those from legitimate sellers. Payments are collected via credit cards, debit cards, and UPI-enabled QR codes.
Some of these sites have cloned Flipkart’s interface with near-perfect accuracy, making it difficult for users to spot any discrepancies.
India Today has identified dozens of websites mimicking the popular e-commerce site Flipkart, which has hosted highly anticipated sales events.
Sites like flipkart-festive-fusion[.]xyz and flipkart-sale-is-live-today[.]xyz impersonate Flipkart’s logo and interface, tricking users into believing they are genuine.
According to Google’s Transparency Report, Chrome browser’s in-built safety check mechanism flags these sites as “unsafe for browsing” and categorises them as “phishing sites” that pretend to be legitimate platforms to deceive users. Some sites attempt to trick visitors into sharing personal information or downloading malicious software.
Even normally safe sites can sometimes be compromised by attackers. Google advises users to report any suspected mistakes if they believe the site does not pose a danger.
While some sites conduct fake sales, others seem focused on harvesting user data by prompting visitors to sign up with their contact details, addresses, and other personally identifiable information (PII).
The emails, phone numbers, addresses, and banking details extracted by these fraudulent campaigns could be used to facilitate future cybercrimes.
In the future, the perpetrators behind these fake websites could contact targets through phone calls, SMS, or instant messaging services using the information gathered, or through email with scams tailored to the user’s vulnerabilities. The more information a fraudster has, the greater the potential harm.
Meanwhile, complaints have also been raised against genuine e-commerce platforms for misleading sales practices, such as advertising products at significantly lower prices only to inflate them at checkout or add hidden charges.
The Union Consumer Affairs Ministry has received several such complaints.
“We have received numerous complaints about e-commerce companies making unbelievable claims. When consumers place orders, they encounter unexpected delivery charges or notice the sudden disappearance of discounts. We are actively monitoring these complaints and will take stern action,” Secretary Nidhi Khare told India Today.