E-Business
Fake or Cloned Websites are Tricking Shoppers into Making Expensive Mistakes

By Georgina Crouth
If you’re shopping online, best you have your wits about you because distractions or multitasking could be your undoing.
Research into online scams in Africa has blamed a lack of vigilance as the most common factor contributing to people falling victim.
And fraudsters, ahead of the curve, are capitalising on that inattention by cloning retail websites, using similar branding and URLs, to trick shoppers of legitimate outlets.
Daily deals website, One Day Only, and Cape Union Mart have both warned that their sites have previously been cloned, advising shoppers to be extra vigilant.
Website cloning has a damaging effect on consumer trust in e-commerce, which is why retailers are educating customers and working with social media platforms and Google to remove cloned accounts.
One Day Only brand and campaign manager Jonathan Spencer says the problem has become out of hand, exacerbated in recent months by the ease of creating clones using AI, which enables anyone to create a new website within minutes.
“It’s quite worrying that it’s so easily done.
“Anyone can put prompts into an AI generator to clone a website, including the artwork. Within minutes, it just pops up.”
While branding and logos are mirrored, the URL is often the dead giveaway: in the case of One Day Only, which ends with .co.za, the URL would end with a .cn, .org or similar.
One Day Only has been targeted on several occasions.
To the unknowing — distracted people or the elderly — the site looks the same, which is why so many are falling victim to it.
Spencer says across the retail landscape, online fraud and phishing attacks have become rife.
“Many other retailers have had a problem with it before, which is why they warn customers to be on the lookout.”
Social media is a cesspit for scams: on Facebook, some clothing “retailers”, often with “Cape Town”, “Jozi” or “South Africa” suffixed to their name for SEO purposes, are catching unobservant shoppers — and racking up thousands of complaints.
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The sites advertise gorgeous products (using stolen images) at reasonable prices, with “free shipping” within SA.
They may, or may not, be run by local online dropshipping stores but they take no responsibility for inferior quality or wrong orders.
Those sites may have .co.za in the URL but usually are linked to scammers operating from China.
Many customers are reporting that they received items that were vastly different from the photos, were poor quality, or had incorrect sizing. Refunds are refused and customers are required to return items, at their own expense, to China.
Instagram is another challenge: One Day Only has been forced to report numerous Instagram accounts cloning their website.
The Cape Union Mart Group says it has recently become the target of an international scam. Group spokesperson Patuvuyo Mtiya said both Cape Union Mart and Poetry stores’ digital platforms were targeted by fraudsters who used fabricated social media adverts to direct traffic to fake websites, tricking customers into purchasing items from the bogus sites.
“These fraudulent digital platforms are offering products at discounted prices, significantly lower than our standard rates. Despite our best efforts to combat this activity, these scams continue to pose a threat to our valued customers and the integrity of our proudly South African brands.”
Mtiya says while they were not the only company experiencing the fraud, they believe it is crucial to alert the public and take steps to protect consumers from falling victim to these scams.
“We encourage all consumers to exercise caution and take necessary precautions when shopping online,” Mtiya said.
“The Cape Union Mart Group is committed to maintaining the highest standards of security and trust for our customers and will continue to work diligently to combat these fraudulent activities.”
Spencer adds that consumers can protect themselves from spoofing (fake websites), and angler phishing (impersonating trusted sources on social media), by using free online tools like WHOIS to check a website’s age, and Google’s safe browsing function to determine its trustworthiness.
Do your homework before buying online: Reverse search images, read Hello Peter and Google reviews, and click to check on the followers.
The problem of phishing attacks is now so pervasive that in the second quarter of 2024, one in 10 South Africans fell victim to them, according to a recent report by security awareness training platform KnowBe4.
Its survey of 800 people from eight African countries, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, Ghana, Egypt, and Mauritius, identified prevalent patterns in online scam susceptibility. The participants, primarily working adults aged 25-44, highlighted external and internal factors that influence their vulnerability to scams.
Nearly 40% of respondents said they had fallen for an online scam in the past year — 43% of victims were distracted and multi-tasking when they fell for the scam. The percentage of distracted or multi-tasking victims was higher in Nigeria and South Africa, at 53% and 46%, respectively.
More than half (53%) of the respondents felt a significant or very significant impact on their lives. Most respondents said it took several months to recover after falling for an online scam.
When asked how much money they had lost in the scam, 40% of the victims said they lost the equivalent of $100 (R1,761), 30% lost between$100 and$1,000, and nearly 9% lost more than $1,000. DM
Credit: www.dailymaverick.co.za
Georgina Crouth
Georgina Crouth is an associate editor for Business Maverick, covering retail, food, alcohol, travel, motoring, education and tech. She has 20 years’ experience, having also worked for eNCA/e.tv, Independent Media and Caxton. A past member of the Western Cape Rental Housing Tribunal, she has also worked as a consumer journalist since 2015.
E-Business
Attackers Target Employees with Fake HR Updates

Kaspersky has identified an advanced phishing campaign targeting employees with personalised emails and attached documents disguised as HR policy updates.
This campaign marks a significant escalation in phishing tactics, with attackers tailoring not only the email body, but also the attachments by addressing individual recipients, showcasing an unprecedented level of customisation. The goal was to lure the victim into entering their corporate email credentials.
The attackers likely prepared by parsing employee names to make the campaign targeted and more convincing.
The emails feature a deceptive body: a fraudulent “verified sender” badge to build trust, the recipient’s name, and an invitation to open the attached file to review remote work protocols, benefits administration and security standards. However, the whole email body is in reality just an image with no real text in it; this is done to bypass email filters.
The attached document, posing as an updated “Employee Handbook,” does not contain any actual guidelines – only a title page, a table of contents with the items that have supposedly been changed highlighted in red, a page with a QR code, supposedly for going to the full document and common instructions on how to read QR codes using a phone. The document features the victim’s name multiple times to convince that this document was created specifically for them.
If the victim scans the QR code and follows the link, they land on a fraudulent page where they are asked to enter their corporate credentials, which is what the attackers are hunting for.
“This campaign demonstrates a new level of sophistication in phishing attacks, and we may be seeing a new mailing automation mechanism that generates a separate attached document and a separate image for the email body for each recipient.
“This tactic allows to scale the attack and at the same time possibly evade traditional defenses. Organisations must prioritise advanced security measures and employee education to stay ahead of these threats,” comments Roman Dedenok, Anti-Spam Expert at Kaspersky.
E-Business
Temu Joins INTA to Combat Counterfeits and Elevate IP Standards Worldwide

Temu, the global online marketplace, has joined the International Trademark Association (INTA) as a corporate member and serves on its Anti-Counterfeiting Committee.
INTA is a global association that brings together more than 6,700 organizations, representing over 37,000 trademark professionals and brand owners across 181 countries. By joining INTA, Temu deepens its commitment to building a trusted online marketplace and advancing global IP protection through broader, cross-industry collaboration.
“INTA welcomes TEMU’s willingness to engage in anticounterfeiting initiatives, including in the Association’s annual Anticounterfeiting Workshop and Online Takedown Certificate Program which serve to share best practices and connect stakeholders,” said Alastair Gray, Director of Anti-Counterfeiting, INTA. “Constructive collaboration with these efforts can contribute to the protection of intellectual property rights for INTA members and support the removal of counterfeit products from the platform which ultimately protects consumers.”
At the 2025 INTA Annual Meeting held in San Diego in May, Temu participated in the Anti-Counterfeiting Committee Roundtable, serving as a moderator to facilitate discussions among brand owners, online platforms, and government officials on emerging technologies, best practices for collaboration, and strategies to strengthen global anti-counterfeiting efforts.
“Joining INTA and serving on its Anti-Counterfeiting Committee reflects Temu’s ongoing commitment to ensuring a trustworthy online shopping experience,” said a Temu spokesperson. “We value collaboration with industry peers and stakeholders and are dedicated to advancing collective efforts in intellectual property protection.”
Temu also participates in INTA-led online workshops, including the Online Platform Notice and Takedown Certification Program, which outlines the latest procedures and best practices used by e-commerce platforms and social media companies. These workshops aim to enhance the quality and accuracy of rights-holder notices, promoting more effective takedown processes and content moderation.
Since launching in 2022, Temu has made significant investments in IP enforcement. Its measures include comprehensive seller vetting and compliance training, 24/7 algorithmic monitoring with manual review, a dedicated IP protection portal and brand registry to streamline takedown submissions, and an internal enforcement team that handles claims with speed and accuracy.
E-Business
Huawei Unveils AI Computing System to Challenge Nvidia’s Flagship Product

China’s Huawei Technologies unveiled an AI computing system on Saturday that an industry expert said rivals Nvidia’s most advanced product, as the company aims to expand its footprint in the country’s booming AI sector.
The CloudMatrix 384 system made its public debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), a three-day event in Shanghai, attracting a large crowd to Huawei’s booth with its showcase of cutting-edge AI innovations.
The system has attracted significant interest from the global AI community since Huawei (HWT.UL) first introduced it in April. Industry analysts see it as a direct challenger to Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72, the most advanced system-level offering currently available from the U.S. chipmaker.
In an April article, Dylan Patel, founder of semiconductor research firm SemiAnalysis, stated that Huawei now possesses AI system capabilities that could surpass those of Nvidia.
Huawei staff at its WAIC booth declined to comment when asked to introduce the CloudMatrix 384 system.
A spokesperson for Huawei did not respond to questions.
Huawei has become widely regarded as China’s most promising domestic supplier of chips essential for AI development, even though the company faces U.S. export restrictions.
Nvidia CEO, Jensen Huang told Bloomberg in May that Huawei had been “moving quite fast” and named the CloudMatrix as an example.
The CloudMatrix 384 system features 384 of Huawei’s latest 910C chips and, according to SemiAnalysis, surpasses Nvidia’s GB200 NVL72 in certain performance metrics, despite the latter using 72 B200 chips.
SemiAnalysis attributes this performance advantage to Huawei’s strong system design, which offsets the lower power of individual chips by leveraging a greater number of them and incorporating system-level innovations.
Huawei describes the system as utilizing a “supernode” architecture that enables ultra-high-speed interconnectivity between chips.
In June, Zhang Pingan, CEO, Huawei Cloud confirmed that the CloudMatrix 384 was already operational on Huawei’s cloud platform.
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