Fake Coricraft website scammers on the prowl

MODUS OPERANDI: ADVERTISE NON-EXISTENT TFG SUBSIDIARY'S PRODUCTS AT IMPLAUSIBLY LOW PRICES

- Moneyweb

A fraudulent website posing as furniture retailer Coricraft, part of The Foschini Group (TFG), is scamming consumers by advertising non-existent products at implausibly low prices.

The markdowns on items range between 80% and 97%. Couches that typically retail for over R22 000 were listed at just R1 400 – a supposed discount of 94%.

The website mimics Coricraft's official branding and includes a near-identical contact page, but features subtle differences in the layout and a suspicious URL.

The scam came to light when Moneyweb radio producer, Kaldora Naidoo, came across an advert for the fake site on Facebook.

She says the unusually steep discounts immediately raised concern. After contacting Coricraft directly, Naidoo was informed that the website was fraudulent and not affiliated with the company.

"The call centre agent told me: 'Thank goodness you phoned as several customers had already been duped by the scam.',"

TFG responds

In an e-mailed response to Moneyweb, TFG said it was alerted to the existence of a fraudulent website impersonating Coricraft earlier in the week of 4 August.

"Our cybersecurity team investigated the matter, confirmed the site to be fake, and have now issued a formal takedown request via our appointed service provider. While this process is underway, final removal depends on third-party domain registrars and may take several days."