Love online shopping? These ‘shadow websites’ are a convincing scam
Fake websites that look and function just like the official stores of popular fashion brands are scamming consumers out of potentially millions of dollars and leaving them exposed to identity theft.
So-called “shadow websites” have become more prevalent in the past few years, and have targeted brands including Mimco, Country Road, Decjuba, Peter Alexander, Bared Footwear and others, an investigation by this masthead has found.
Real or fake? The genuine Oroton website, and a “shadow” one claiming to sell the same item.Credit: Stephen Kiprillis
Often, the shadow websites claim to stock the brands’ items at heavily reduced prices. However, in most cases, they are just glorified scam or phishing sites that trick consumers into parting with their credit card details, and can end up costing much more than the initial purchase.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission estimates there were more than 2700 reports of fake websites last year, resulting in losses of more than $500,000. Online shopping scams generally cost Australians more than $7 million in 2023.
In one recent example, a shadow website for the designer brand Oroton, which has no connection or affiliation with the actual brand, appears to be selling some of the same items as the brand’s official page. On the official Oroton outlet site, a pair of ribbed flare pants sells for $99, while the fake website has the same pair of pants for $93.
The site, whose address is “shoporoton.com”, uses the brand’s logo and style names, but has a design that looks far less sophisticated than the brand’s official site.
But while some shadow sites are obviously suspect, legal experts say the fakes can be almost impossible to detect.
Jonathan Feder, practice area leader for intellectual property at law firm K&L Gates, says the scammers behind the sites work on a “whack-a-mole” system, whereby they “scam as many people as they can, [then] shut the website down” before moving on to their next target.
Feder, who has acted for many brands targeted by shadow sites, says in 90 per cent of cases the sites are based in China and it can be very hard to find out who’s behind them. The most effective course of action is to target the domain host, alerting them to the potential breach of the law, he says.
“In the [host’s] terms and conditions, [the client agrees] that they are not going to use a domain for illegal activity or to infringe on rights,” Feder says.
Although this approach is effective, he concedes that “what the client never knows is how much damage has been done, how many people have been misled”.
Julia Sutterby fell victim to a Decjuba shadow site last year when she went online to buy a pair of jeans from what she thought was the brand’s website.
“Decjuba is already quite an affordable brand … so [the price] didn’t make me suspicious,” she says. “As soon as I got the confirmation email I thought it was a scam from the look of the email.”
Her credit card statement, which showed a transaction from a Hong Kong-based business, only confirmed her fears. But it didn’t end there – the scammers took more payments from her account.
Julia Sutterby was scammed by a fake Decjuba website in 2023.Credit: Elle Baillieu
Sutterby was able to get the fraudulent transactions refunded from her bank, but she never saw her original $70 again. In a bizarre twist, months after placing her order she received a costume jewellery bracelet, a common element in similar scams operating at the time.
“The bracelet was in this fake Cartier box, it was the most disgusting thing ever,” she says.
At the time, Decjuba warned its customers of the scams on its social media channels and encouraged people to only shop at its official domain names. But Feder pointed out that in some instances, it is almost impossible for consumers to spot the fake sites, especially when the address has some derivation of the brand’s name.
“It is hard to pick. They can take the original photos from the website – because the campaign is there you think it’s legitimate,” he says.
Bared Footwear founder Anna Baird says she has also been impacted by shadow websites. While her company has successfully shut down nearly nine in 10 over the past year and posted warnings to customers, she is still concerned about their potential impact on the brand’s international reputation.
“These sham businesses can look very convincing,” she says. “Having our customers, especially our international ones, feel confident about purchasing their shoes online is so important and these sites impact consumer confidence.”
Decjuba, Country Road, Mimco, Oroton and Peter Alexander were all contacted for comment. An email to the address provided for shoporoton.com bounced back.
Sutterby agrees that although she is far more scrupulous when shopping online, it’s still easy to get caught. “You have to be really careful about what you’re purchasing,” she says. “If you saw how much the website was the same – it wasn’t even obvious.”
The growth of online clearance sites such as The Dom and Catch can also mean it’s harder for consumers to distinguish real sales from fakes.
However, Justin Seskin, co-founder of online outlet The Dom, says he only deals directly with brands and will reject offers from so-called “grey market”, third-party resellers to clear stock. He says consumers can educate themselves by learning which outlet sites are reputable.
“The barriers to entry [online] are very low, and it takes more than us telling the customer we are legitimate. It comes with time and repetition,” he says.
An ACCC spokeswoman said there was an alarming trend in scammers paying search engines, such as Google, to preference scam websites’ results over links to the brands’ genuine stores.
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