Selling counterfeit products is easy-peasy, as long as your initial investment is low.
Scammers achieve that by registering very cheap domains, and there are some TLDs notorious for their cheap promos.
Quite often, some domain Registries partner with Registrars and discount domains in the sub $2 dollar range.
How is profit made?
From that arrangement, the Registry establishes a footprint among registrants, and the Registrar locks in domains that will renew at regular price the following year.
It’s all about conversions, and a conversion rate of 5% – 10% is considered superb.
Back to the counterfeit goods peddlers, that use social media to advertise their fake products as soon as the domain is registered.
Take for example the domain PatagoniaOffer.TOP that was registered on May 17th.
By May 20th they have a Facebook page up, and began advertising on the extended ad network that Facebook provides: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network.
Patagonia has an official page on Facebook, and it’s not this one. The scammers running the campaign below are targeting Americans eager to go after cheap knockoffs; replying to such obvious scams might cost you a few bucks, but every dollar adds up. Many will take the risk, ordering items that appear to be heavily discounted, and surrendering credit card and personal information.
Eventually, the ad platform shuts them down, but that’s not the end of the scam. The social media scammers then move onto the next cheap domain, and they repeat the process.
