56.8% of Brazilians prefer shopping via mobile devices, reveals global research by Sinch

On the eve of Black Friday, the peak period for e-commerce, digital criminal activity is also increasing. According to a Branddi study, the number of fake pages – cloned sites or those simulating Black Friday promotions – active during the pre-Black Friday period in 2024 was three times higher than the number monitored during the same period in 2023. These fake pages impersonated strong and recognized brands – such as Amazon, Mercado Livre, Nike, etc. The most impacted segments were fashion and apparel (30.2%), e-commerce/marketplaces (25.1%), and supplements (14.3%).

According to Febraban data, the most common scams in Brazil involve cloning messaging apps, fake promotions, and fake call centers. Sinch, a global leader in omnichannel communication, emphasizes that these attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, incorporating technologies such as spoofing, automated blasts, social engineering, and even voice and image deepfakes.

Among the identified risks are scams that use cloned messaging apps and fake SMS, criminals impersonating banks, logistics companies, or retailers, as well as phishing practices, where fake call centers attempt to steal sensitive data. “Also notable are misleading promotions with malicious links that exploit the urgency factor to induce clicks, the use of clandestine base transceiver stations capable of intercepting signals and compromising communications, and the growing application of artificial intelligence technologies to simulate the voice and image of known individuals,” highlights Liz Zorzo, Global Fraud Manager.

Sinch operates extensively in combating fraud, offering proprietary anti-fraud platforms, security firewalls, real-time behavior and traffic analysis, device fingerprinting, and partnerships with carriers to block unauthorized routes. Furthermore, it provides two-factor or multi-factor authentication tools (2FA/MFA), via SMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email, or voice, ensuring that communications between companies and consumers are secure and verifiable.

In the corporate environment, the company recommends the adoption of verified channels, clear security policies, and continuous team training against social engineering attacks, in addition to implementing message validation mechanisms and official consumer reporting channels.

For end users, the guidance involves never interacting with links or numbers received in unsolicited messages, being wary of communications with a tone of urgency or unrealistic promises, verifying senders, checking the language used, and always seeking direct contact with companies through official channels, such as apps or numbers printed on cards. It is also important to keep social media profiles private and avoid answering calls from unknown numbers.

“The key highlight of our solutions is maintaining a competitive and secure response time, even in complex scenarios, such as operations outside major urban centers. We manage to consolidate loads, reduce reverse logistics time, and, above all, ensure secure communications for companies and consumers,” adds Liz Zorzo.

For the coming years, the expectation is that fraud will become even more sophisticated, with the use of artificial intelligence for hyper-personalized attacks and the growth of deepfakes applied to identity theft. In this scenario, Sinch maintains dedicated security and anti-fraud teams that continuously develop new features based on machine learning, ensuring that its solutions evolve at the same pace as the threats.