Pretend giveaways, private seller scams and countless fake webshops: The amount of online fraud surrounding the PlayStation 5 is evidence of just how scarce this coveted piece of tech still is.
Sadly, gamers still need to be on the lookout for scams when trying to track down a rare PS5, after Sony clearly exceeded its supply after market launch in November.
Months after the PS5 launch, it remains practically impossible to pick up this console in shops due to the ongoing chip shortage on the world market - and gamers are growing more and more desperate.
Cybercrime experts from Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) are warning that online fraudsters have long grown wise to the demand and are trying their hardest to exploit this.
One fraud network is currently acting in a particularly brazen manner, putting a number of fake shop pages online that imitate the exact design of Sony's PlayStation pages to give you the feeling you are ordering a PS5 directly from the manufacturer.
These fake shops are elaborately designed, and only minor spelling mistakes and image details with Cyrillic packaging inscriptions give them away.
Almost all of the sites used by the fraudsters use the phrase "PlayStation" or "PS5" in the internet address, while some also use "Sony" to appear legitimate.
The problem is that once officials shut down a website, the fake shop soon reappears at a new internet address, according to tech news website Heise Online, citing cybersecurity company urlscan.io.
Despite all the warnings to buy PS5 consoles only from established dealers, too many customers are still falling for scams like this, according to the security analysts, and given the ongoing shortage, there appears to be no end in sight. – dpa
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