Criminals are using AI website builders to clone major brands

Criminals are now using AI website builders to quickly clone the look and feel of major brands, turning a cheap, similar-looking domain into a convincing trap for payments, logins, or malware downloads. The article highlights a fake Malwarebytes site that appeared to be generated with Vercel’s v0 tool, showing how attackers can copy a real site’s layout in minutes and then swap in their own scam links. It also points to a surge in impersonation domains ahead of shopping seasons, with tens of thousands registered and thousands already hosting phishing pages or fake storefronts. To get victims, scammers boost visibility through SEO poisoning, ads, and spammy links that push the lookalikes into search results and social feeds. The takeaway is to treat brand sites with extra caution, double-check domains and payment details, and avoid clicking purchase or download links from comments, ads, or unexpected messages.