Rise in Brand Infringement Scams: Why Brands Need to Stay Extra Careful During the Festive Season

It’s the busiest time of the year…

Especially for ecommerce brands, when shoppers are eagerly browsing, ready to shop, spend, and convert.

And at this moment, the buzz has already begun, users have already started wishlisting what new products they need to bring home this festive season. Brands are all geared up to make the most from festive sales like Flipkart’s Big Billion Days, Amazon’s Great Indian Festival, Meesho’s Mega Blockbuster Sale, etc.

But are you aware, it’s the most wonderful time of the year for whom?

Fraudsters and scammers. E-commerce brands are highly targeted by fraudsters during the festive season.

mFilterIt spotted more than 1600 suspicious domains and fake websites appearing on ad networks mimicking known e-commerce platforms, dedicated to phishing and selling counterfeits.

This is just one part of the bigger problem.

Festive season fraud in India has evolved far beyond the occasional fake product listing. Today, cybercriminals run full-fledged operations, registering lookalike domains, cloning brand websites, impersonating customer service representatives, and creating social media ads that look almost indistinguishable from those of the real brands.

Around 45% of Indian consumers report that they or someone they know has been targeted by a deepfake-based shopping scam, and over half of these victims, about 56%, ended up losing money to the fraud. Source: Times of India. So, how do brands ensure protection against brand infringement scams to safeguard their integrity in the market and among consumers?

In this article, we’ll break down types of brand infringements targeting Indian consumers during the festive season and explore how both shoppers and businesses can protect themselves. We’ll also look at how brand protection solutions help e-commerce platforms keep the festive spirit safe.

Why Festive Season Is Prime Time for Scammers?

A report by the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) found that phishing and brand impersonation attacks spike by up to 70% during peak shopping seasons.

This means that when customers are highly energetic, lured, and distracted by discounts, fraudsters are busy making their fraudulent operations look more legitimate than ever. Here’s why the number of scams surges during this time of the year: 

• Shoppers are in a hurry – Limited-time deals, flash sales, and midnight offers push customers to act fast. This urgency often means they skip basic checks like verifying seller authenticity or double-checking website URLs. 
• Massive ad spend boosts brand visibility – Brands invest heavily in festive marketing across channels. Fraudsters hijack this visibility by copying creatives, mimicking landing pages, and targeting the same ad keywords to divert traffic. 
• Fear of missing out drives impulsive clicks – Festive campaigns create a “buy now before it’s gone” mindset. Fraudsters exploit this by using phishing sites, listings, and even emails that look identical to official ones, banking on consumers’ lack of attention. 
• Customers’ trust in brands – Customers expect big discounts during festivals like Diwali, Independence Day, etc., from the brands they know they can trust. This high trust level lowers their skepticism toward unusually cheap offers, making it easier for scammers to mislead them. 
• Volume of activity makes monitoring harder – With brands handling high order volumes, launching new SKUs, and running multiple campaigns, it becomes harder to track every marketplace listing, social ad, or new domain in real time, giving scammers a window to operate. 

Therefore, the lack of vigilance from both brands’ and consumers’ results in an increase of brand infringement cases and lost brand integrity, sales, as well as customer trust. 

Common Types of Brand Infringement Attacks You Need to Know About

Several brand infringement patterns repeatedly surface during festive sales. Below are some things you need to be aware of: 

– Fake Websites, Typo Squatting, and Lookalike Domains

Fraudsters register domains that closely mimic brand URLs (swap letters like replacing ‘O’ with a ‘zero’, add prefixes/suffixes, use similar TLDs) and build landing pages that copy official branding, logo, and product images. These pages are then promoted by running fake ads across platforms, SMS links, or mass phishing campaigns promising 50-70% discounts. So, customers land on convincing checkout pages and complete payments that never reach the real brand. 

– Counterfeit and Unauthorized Marketplace Listings

Unauthorized sellers list fake or low-quality replicas of legit products under a genuine brand name. These listings often come with heavily discounted prices to lure buyers who end up buying substandard goods, leading to a poor experience and loss of money. 

According to a joint study conducted by Crisil and the Authentication Solution Providers Association (ASPA), counterfeit goods account for roughly 25–30% of total products sold in India. The problem is particularly severe in the apparel and FMCG industries, where counterfeit selling reaches about 31% and 28%, respectively.

Source: Business Standard

– Social Media Impersonation and Fake Promotional Accounts

Fake Instagram pages, cloned Facebook profiles, or fake WhatsApp customer service numbers are commonly used to run festive promotions. Scammers create accounts that visually mimic the brand, run paid ads, or DM followers with limited-time coupon codes that lead to phishing websites or fake storefronts. This not only steals immediate sales from the brand but also floods their original account with angry customers requiring PR and customer-care bandwidth to resolve issues and re-establish trust. 

According to research conducted in 2024, 31% of consumers admitted that they are likely to purchase from sellers discovered on social media if the offer seems appealing, leaving them particularly vulnerable to brand impersonation fraud.

Moreover, nearly 47% of Indian consumers have encountered scams involving forged celebrity endorsements or questionable online retailers on social media platforms.

Source: McAfee 

How Brand Infringement Scams Hurt Consumers and Brands: The Ripple Effect

The first and most direct victims of brand impersonation attacks are consumers. The festive season makes shoppers even more vulnerable. Major impacts include: 

1. Financial losses – Customers end up paying for products that are never delivered, or receive counterfeit goods of little or no value. Refunds are rarely possible because scammers disappear once the transaction is complete. 
2. Compromised personal data – Fake websites and phishing campaigns collect sensitive information such as credit card numbers, addresses, and login credentials. This data might be later sold on the dark web or used for further misuse or fraud. 
3. Emotional frustration and stress – Beyond monetary loss, users also experience disappointment, frustration, and a feeling of betrayal, especially when the scam is linked to a brand they admire. 
4. Misdirected anger at legitimate brands – Customers often believe the official brand is responsible for their bad experience and might even call them out publicly on social media platforms. 

On the other hand, brands, often unaware that scammers have used their name, intellectual property, and trademarks to fool customers, face further consequences. This misplaced blame damages genuine customer relationships and erodes brand integrity.  

Therefore, the ripple effect immediately reaches the businesses and brands whose identity was misused. The consequences include: 

1. Erosion of brand reputation – Negative reviews, angry social media posts, and complaints impact a brand’s public image. 
2. Revenue diversion and lost sales – Fake listings and counterfeit products directly compete with authentic offerings, redirecting sales to fraudulent sellers. 
3. Increased customer support burden – Brands have to handle complaints, queries, and refund requests from scam victims, even when they are not at fault. This strains resources and slows down service for genuine customers. 
4. Legal and compliance risks – Failure to act against infringement can lead to legal challenges, especially in regions with strict IP protection laws, and may complicate trademark enforcement in the future. 

In short, what begins as a consumer-facing fraud quickly becomes a brand liability, one that demands both rapid response and long-term protection strategies. 

How an Open-Source Intelligence–Powered Tool Helps You Protect Your Brand Reputation during Peak Sale Season?

Brands still relying on manual checks and traditional technologies to identify these threats are playing with fire. They lose their credibility and the customer’s trust. Brand infringement can cause lasting reputational and financial damage if not addressed promptly. 

A brand protection solution like Sentinel+ by mFilterIt empowers businesses to proactively detect, assess, and act against such threats using the three-pillar approach – Identification, Classification, and Action, ensuring both brand integrity and customer trust remain intact. Here’s how: 

– Comprehensive Monitoring Across Platforms

A robust brand protection solution continuously scans the open web, deep web, and dark web using OSINT (open-source intelligence) to detect any unauthorized use of a brand’s identity or assets. This includes monitoring across websites, social media platforms, instant messaging apps, marketplaces, search engines, coupon sites, and even Google Business listings. Using AI and ML-driven algorithms, these solutions detect infringements like fake domains, phishing websites, counterfeit product listings, or impersonation accounts, etc., often before they reach a large number of consumers. 

– Accurate Detection and Rapid Classification

These solutions don’t just flag suspicious activity; they classify and prioritize cases based on the level of threat. Leveraging data inter-linking algorithms and sentiment analysis, it determines whether a suspicious listing, account, or post is harmful, enabling brands to take swift action. By integrating client verification, approval, and HUMINT (human intelligence), the accuracy rate improves significantly, reducing false positives and ensuring that genuine brand assets aren’t mistakenly removed. 

– Swift Enforcement and High Takedown Success Rates 

Effective brand protection is not just about identification but about timely action. Advanced solutions like Sentinel+ enable direct takedowns without waiting for lengthy legal processes. This is done with the help of collaborations with domain registrars, social media platforms, hosting providers, and marketplaces. With average takedown times ranging from a few hours to a couple of days and success rates above 85%, brands can quickly neutralize threats and restore consumer trust before the damage hits the bottom line. 

Therefore, at mFilterIt, our AI-powered brand protection solution capabilities offer 24/7 monitoring, rapid detection, and efficient takedowns across digital platforms, helping brands safeguard their reputation and protect customers from fraud, especially during high-risk festive seasons or sales. 

Final Thoughts 

The festive season is a golden opportunity for growth, but also a peak period for brand infringement scams. By staying vigilant and using advanced brand protection solutions like Sentinel+ by mFilterIt, brands can preserve customer trust, safeguard revenue, and maintain their hard-earned reputation against evolving digital threats. 

Ready to safeguard your brand at all times? Get in touch with our experts today for immediate action.