Fake Amazon and eBay sites are spiking ahead of Black Friday, using real logos, photos, and “too good to be true” prices to fool shoppers
Before you buy, tap the full URL, sanity-check prices, avoid wire/Zelle/crypto, and check for real contact info and recent low-star reviews
If you get duped, change your Amazon password, call your card issuer to block charges and replace the card, and report the fake site and messages
Black Friday 2025 is shaping up to be a huge weekend for scammers. New data from Nord VPN shows fake Amazon websites jumped 232% in October compared to September. Across all shopping sites, fake stores were up 250%, and fake eBay pages spiked a whopping 525% over the same period.
Perhaps even more worrisome is that 68% of consumers don’t know how to spot a phishing website. Combine that with a 36% rise in phishing attacks between August and October, and you’ve got a perfect storm: more fake sites, more bogus emails, and millions of rushed shoppers hunting for “can’t-miss” deals.
Here’s what this all means in real life and how to protect yourself without giving up the savings.
What a fake “Amazon” site really looks like
Scam sites have gotten much better than the obvious misspelled junk from a few years ago. Many now do the following nefarious tricks:
- Copy Amazon’s logo completely, including all fonts and layout
- Use product photos and reviews stolen straight from legitimate listings
- Offer “too good to be true” prices on popular brands
- Push you to pay quickly with limited-time countdowns
Make sure you’re taking a close look at the address bar of your browser. Instead of amazon.com, you’ll see something like this:
- amazn-deals.shop
- amazon-black-friday.online
- prime-clearance-event.com
On a phone, that full URL is usually cut off, so it’s easy to miss the extra words before or after “amazon.” So be sure to tap on the actual web address that’s displayed and it should show you the full URL.
5 quick checks before you buy anything
Before you checkout make sure you run these five fast checks. This is especially necessary when you reached the site by clicking on an email, text, or ad.
Read the full web address
Tap the URL bar and look at the whole thing. Real Amazon retail pages always live at amazon.com/... – not .shop, .top, .store, or a long string that only includes “amazon” somewhere in the middle.
Scan the prices for “magic” discounts
If a popular item (like a console, iPad, Dyson, Lego set) is 40%–70% cheaper than everywhere else (and only on this one site) assume it’s fake, refurbished, or never arriving. Real Black Friday deals are priced aggressively, but they typically aren’t priced 50% less than any other seller.
Check how they want you to pay
If the site asks you to pay in one of these wonky ways, assume the worst:
- Pushes wire transfers, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, or crypto
- Won’t accept mainstream credit cards
- Adds a discount if you use a “special” payment link
Credit cards offer the best fraud protections. Scammers know this and try to route you around them.
Look for basic contact info
Legitimate stores (even small ones) usually list the following at a minimum:
- A physical address
- A working customer service email or phone number
- Return and privacy policies
If all you see is a contact form and a vague Gmail address, walk away.
Reverse the reviews
If the site has product reviews, be sure to sort them from worst to best. And look at the most recent reviews first to get a better idea of how the seller is operating now, not 2 years ago.
If there are issues, you’ll quickly see patterns like “never received my order,” “fake tracking number,” or “only partial order arrived.” If every review is 5 stars with generic wording, assume they’re copied or AI-generated.
What to do if you think you got scammed
If you clicked a suspicious link or placed an order on a fake site, act quickly by doing the following:
- Change your Amazon password (and anywhere else you reuse it) and turn on two-factor authentication.
- Call your bank or credit card company and explain what happened. Ask about blocking the charge and issuing a new card.
- Watch your statements closely over the next few weeks for small “test” charges.
- Report the fake site and messages to Amazon and your email provider. Taking 60 seconds to report it potentially helps fewer people fall for the same scam.