Fraud Frenzy: 6 Million E-Commerce Scams Thwarted in 2025 Shopping Spree

Cybercriminals had a field day in 2025, with Kaspersky reporting a massive spike in online fraud during shopping seasons. The security company blocked over 6.39 million phishing attempts that impersonated online stores, banks, and payment systems between January and October, with nearly half targeting online shoppers specifically.

The numbers tell a clear story about how cybercriminals adapt their tactics. During the first two weeks of November alone, as Black Friday campaigns kicked off, Kaspersky detected 146,535 spam emails related to sales and discounts. More than 2,500 of these were tied to Singles' Day promotions.

Gaming platforms became prime targets for attacks. Discord took the biggest hit, with 18.56 million attempted malware infections disguised as game files. That's a 14-fold increase compared to 2024. Overall, gaming platforms faced more than 20 million attack attempts throughout the year.

The scammers aren't getting creative with their approach. Many fraud campaigns simply recycled old marketing materials and copied well-known brands like Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba. These fake sites look legitimate at first glance but lead users to phishing pages designed to steal personal and payment information.

Entertainment platforms weren't spared either. Netflix faced 801,148 phishing attempts, while Spotify dealt with 576,873 similar attacks. Gaming services like Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox saw 2.05 million phishing attempts that mimicked their login pages.

Here's what makes this particularly concerning for businesses and consumers: the attacks are becoming more systematic. Criminals are targeting the entire digital ecosystem that users interact with daily, from shopping and banking to entertainment and gaming.

For financial institutions and e-commerce platforms, this trend means higher security costs and potential liability issues. Payment processors are seeing increased fraud attempts, which translates to more chargebacks and disputed transactions.

Olga Altukhova, a web content expert at Kaspersky, points out that 2025 data shows criminal operations expanding to cover users' complete digital lives. The company recommends that consumers verify store legitimacy, check reviews for unfamiliar companies, and monitor bank statements regularly.

The timing isn't coincidental. Seasonal shopping periods create perfect conditions for fraud because people are more likely to click on deals and shop from new retailers. But the scale of these operations suggests cybercrime groups are treating this as a year-round business model rather than opportunistic attacks.