Week 6

‘Spoofed’, or fake websites are websites designed to look very similar to a name brand sites, with a URL that has similar characters. Recent examples of these are paypal.com, but instead of an l, there is a 1; fake Apple websites that would appear when searching for Apple support or general questions, and various ChatGPT websites with multiple different URLs that were not genuine. ChatGPT was so new at the time, many people followed these URLs to malicious websites not knowing any better.

                Some ways to spot fake websites or URLs are spelling, punctuation, website checkers and social media presence. Excessive pop-ups and non-traditional payment methods are other ways to spot a fake site.

                An example of how these sites make money was a fake Apple site in 2023, where they posted a phone number and posed as customer support. People would call expecting a quick solution but would get tricked into buying merchandise and paying over the phone.