A foldable phone costing more than most laptops gives fraudsters a ready-made excuse to promise a bargain. Within a day of the iPhone Duo reaching stores, researchers found cloned storefronts dressed in Apple’s design language, advertising cuts of 25 percent on a device never discounted.
Kaspersky’s web content team flagged the pages on October 24, saying the lures ran in English, in several selectable languages, and in Portuguese. The company’s Olga Altukhova described hype as the commodity being sold. Cheap hardware rarely draws this attention; an expensive launch model draws it fast.
How the counterfeit checkout works
The English copy opened with a countdown claiming half an hour remained, then collected a name, contact details and a shipping address. Card fields were deliberately absent. A message said a manager would call later to finalize payment, moving the target onto a channel no browser warning covers.
Multilingual versions let visitors pick a currency before preordering and claimed the site would hand them to Apple’s official store. It never did. The Portuguese page skipped the pretense, asking for an email plus the number tied to a WhatsApp account as an availability check.
Why the private handoff matters
A phone number attached to messaging is worth more than a stolen card. A thread opened with a fake order confirmation has a plausible reason to escalate, and the follow-up arrives on a channel the victim trusts. From there come payment links, remote-access instructions or code requests.
None of it needs an exploit, a jailbreak or a forged certificate. The flaw worked is human, and the device stays untouched while the buyer does the unwinding.
Treat unofficial discounts on a launch device as the warning itself, retype retailer addresses rather than follow links, and keep a virtual card between a storefront and a main account.
