Tackling fake webshops

Spotting patterns

It's a story that plays out again and again, all around the world. A consumer sees some great shoes or designer clothes in a webshop and places an order. Weeks later, nothing has turned up... or the goods that arrive are crude fakes from China. According to Statistics Netherlands, no fewer than a million Dutch people were victims of retail fraud in 2024. Sadly, fake webshops do sometimes appear in the .nl domain.

Many of them run under domain names that used to belong to other organisations. Usually, the shop pops up straight after the domain name has been registered, and quickly claims a string of victims. Sometimes, it's taken down not much later. But the crooks may keep repeating the scam, using one re-registered name after another. Distinctive features like that enable us to identify tell-tale patterns consistent with a domain name being registered for an abusive purpose.

Intervening before a site goes live

Our research department, SIDN Labs, has developed systems that check new domain names immediately after registration and flag up any that show those tell-tale signs. So we’re able to intervene before the domain names have websites, or very soon after the sites go live. Meaning that no one falls victim to scams perpetrated using the domain names in question.

Collaboration

Collaboration is an important feature of the fight against online crime. As well as for alerting the people and organisations that have influence on domain names that are being abused.

Regulatory bodies and the Police National Internet Fraud Desk know they can turn to us whenever they come across anything involving the use of domain names for malicious practices. We also frequently work with the Consumers' Association, the Fraud Help Desk and others, including investigative journalists on the trail of dubious practices, who alert us to suspect domain names. With the help of all our partners, we strive to stay one step ahead of the cybercriminals and to intervene as early as possible.

Raising awareness, because prevention is better than cure

Numerous organisations work with us or in parallel to us to stop fake webshop fraud. Active organisations include the Fraud Help Desk, the Consumers' Association and the Police National Internet Fraud Desk. Advice on how to avoid falling victim to cybercrime is available from the websites of those organisations. Links to some of the most useful information sources are provided below, followed by our own 10 tips for spotting fake webshops.

• Fraud Help Desk

• Consumers' Association

• ConsuWijzer

• Police National Internet Fraud Desk

• SeniorWeb

• Veiliginternetten.nl