Jermiah Robinson
February 21st, 2024
CYSE 201S – Cybersecurity
Fake Websites
Websites for the internet is an important aspect to what really makes the internet. From video hosting websites to blogs to even social media, websites display information for the consumers of the website to enjoy. However, fake websites exist as well as replicas of websites that deceive or a phishing attempt. There are several false ones out there and more are coming up.
Discord.com is a popular social media website that people around the world use for chatting and talking to new people in servers which have their interests. However, there is a growing amount of phishing and hackers on Discord that will compromise and steal accounts with false websites. Usually this happens by sending a friend a false gift link, which embeds and appears like a gift. The user clicks on the link and goes to an exact replica of the login screen for Discord, but it is there to steal the login information of a user. The scam disguises as the Discord login page to bait users into entering in their account information. Once the user inputs their information, the information is immediately logged to a different server via webhook with the account controlled by a bot immediately to send the exact scam to other friends like a virus.
Even BankofAmerica.com fake websites exist to be used for scams (Example: BankOffAmerica.com). Scammers create fake versions of the websites with a fake login page, a fake transaction page, and a fake account page to show checking and savings accounts. Scammers use these to make people enter in their sensitive information for their actual Bank of America accounts. Scammers then will then show a fake account page and then show a transaction page to either show a fake refund was issued or a loss of it. From this point, the scammers will attempt to make the person send money through Zelle.
Lastly, Nike.com also has a false website version that is there to only take credit card information. This fake website’s purpose is to only steal information that is put in, with it looking exactly like the official Nike store. (Example: nikeoutletstoree.com (extra e)) The moment that the information is inputted, it is stolen, and the website owner can take the stolen information to use for themselves.
In conclusion, these fake websites are made for stealing information by disguising as a popular website instead with only a slight difference (Through the domain) Without proper research on the links that are clicked, people risk having their personal information being stolen from someone else who owns the website.