Beware sneaky copycat shopping websites
Tali writes about scams and consumer rights for Which? delving into fraud, technology and consumer rights topics to keep readers safe and empowered.
Every year, millions of pounds are lost to online shopping scams in the UK, with losses peaking over the festive period.
These purchase scams, where you buy something and get nothing or something significantly different from what was advertised in return, are increasingly being facilitated and professionalised using free and cheap artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
Fraudsters use these tools to create convincing, slick websites, adverts and emails to disguise their scams, and a new example of this is a sneaky copycat Marks and Spencer website.
Data shared by the high street bank TSB shows these scams accounted for over two fifths of bank transfer fraud losses among its customers, with losses for its customers alone totalling £2.3m in 2026 so far. The average loss to clothing scams was £175.
Here, we examine this scam website reported to Which? and how we then discovered a network of similar scams.
Dodgy ad leads to fake M&S site
Which? investigated a fake M&S website after a member of Which? Scam Action and Alerts group reported encountering a pop-up scam advert while playing solitaire on their iPad.
The ad led to a fake M&S website, complete with what looked like AI-generated images of heavily discounted clothes.
The location of the site was hidden, but some of the services managing the website were found to be based in China.
We also traced five images on the website to a Hong Kong-based clothing website and soon discovered a bigger scam network at play.
Which? has reported the website to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
A bigger scam network
The business name and address on the fake website had been used on 22 other similar sites, which promoted cheap clothing using AI-generated images.
According to fraud reports to Report Fraud, the national reporting centre for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, AI as a contributing factor in a scam increased by 395% between 2024/25 and 2025/26.
During the same period, reported losses linked to AI-enabled crime increased from £1.2m to £9.6m. This data is just the tip of the iceberg, as fraud is one of the UK's most under-reported crimes.
Which? found reports of customers complaining about buying items that were poor quality and nothing like they were advertised, being offered partial refunds or store credit instead of a full refund and having to send items back to China.
Other reports suggested that dodgy adverts were driving people to the scam websites, with people seeing an advert for one of the websites on a reputable online news publisher's website and placing orders yet receiving nothing in return.
In January, Which? investigated how scammers hijack the online advertising ecosystem to peddle scams. Many free news sites and apps are almost entirely funded by advertising, but this system is largely automated using AI and algorithms, enabling fraudsters to exploit it. Our investigation uncovered several scams hidden in adverts appearing on trusted websites.
Will anyone stop these scam adverts?
Which? has been campaigning for tech platforms to take responsibility and stop the scourge of scams appearing online. Under the Online Safety Act’s fraudulent advertising codes, the regulator Ofcom will require the largest tech platforms to ban bad actors who post scam ads and prevent perpetrators from creating new accounts.
However, the Act is focused on adverts on the largest social media platforms (website and app versions) and search engines and doesn’t cover all adverts, particularly those found lurking on news websites or in some other apps, such as the solitaire app used to host the M&S scam.
Which? wants the government to commit to a regulatory solution for the open display advertising market, to stop scams like the ones we’ve found appearing in Apps and on websites, to stop scammers targeting people in this way.
How to stay safe from shopping scams
Fraudsters can create believable fashion stores which appear to sell high-quality items at affordable prices. These sites are often promoted through scam adverts hidden online in search engines, apps, social media or on legitimate websites.
Buying from these sites will likely either result in you being sent a poor-quality item, or absolutely nothing in return. Meanwhile, these websites have your details.
Stay safe by sticking to well-known reputable retailers, but if you do choose to buy from an unknown brand, follow our five top tips for spotting a scam website:
- Be wary of offers which sound too good to be true, such as heavily discounted items or products which are otherwise sold out.
- Look carefully at URLs to check if you’re on or being directed to the brand’s official site or not.
- Check if the company’s listed address is in the UK and you can verify the location.
- Copy and paste the URL into a domain checking website like Who.is to see when it was registered. Newly created websites are a red flag.
- Be suspicious of websites lacking basic information like ‘about us’ pages, privacy policies or terms and conditions.
Report scam websites to NCSC. You can also report scams to Report Fraud or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.
If a scammer has stolen your money, contact your bank immediately using the number on the back of your card.
