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A slew of pretend web sites purporting to promote widespread Nobull health club clothes have sprung up forward of the Christmas gross sales interval, with customers being scammed into making purchases on the websites.
The US-based model, which is widespread amongst CrossFit lovers, is promoted by NFL star Tom Brady, who turned an investor this yr.
However Googling ‘Nobull UK’ returns a lot of pretend websites among the many high outcomes, together with nobull-shoes-uk.co and uknobull.com, which have been each registered earlier this yr. The websites have since been taken down, however not earlier than fooling some customers.
Mis-spelling the identify barely, and looking “UK No Bull” returned a pretend web site as the highest end result, in keeping with analysis by The Impartial.
Discovering pretend web sites so simply on the world’s greatest search engine is prone to anger campaigners who fought to drive web giants to crack down on fraud after the companies resisted having protections made a part of the brand new On-line Security Act.
The websites have been made to look much like Nobull’s official web site, however stripped of contact particulars and firm info. They provide engaging pricing with a couple of third off sports activities footwear and different items.
One shopper, who didn’t need to be named for worry of being focused by extra scammers, was trying to find offers on the clothes since shares have been low on the corporate’s actual web site. She advised The Impartial that she fell foul of a copycat web site, spending over £100. She is making an attempt to get her bank card firm to refund her.
The professionalism of the positioning, its use of the corporate’s model identify and its prominence in Google searches meant that she solely suspected an issue when no affirmation was emailed to them.
Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Coverage and Advocacy, stated: “Latest Which? analysis discovered greater than 6 million folks within the UK have fallen sufferer to scams on platforms – a lot of that are owned by tech giants – within the final 12 months and this included search engines like google equivalent to Google the place fraud was discovered to be frequent.
“Beneath the present timeline for the On-line Security Act, platforms in scope of the fraudulent promoting duties within the Act is probably not held accountable till 2027. Which? believes Ofcom must deliver this into drive a lot sooner.
“The Fraud Minister should additionally guarantee a extra coordinated strategy throughout authorities and the tech, banking and telecom sectors to cease the fraud epidemic.”
One of many websites has been reviewed by customers on Trustpilot, with 4 one-star critiques after customers both obtained no items or have been despatched low-cost pretend jewelry relatively than sportswear. The proprietor of the web site has not responded to the critiques.
Net hosts like GoDaddy have been discovered to be promoting copycat net domains with names like nobull-shoes-uk.com for as little as one penny.
New guidelines within the UK below the On-line Security Act shield customers towards fraud, however they’re solely slowly being rolled out.
The act handed final yr however work is being carried out to deliver it into drive from 2025.
Advisors engaged on the act say that search engines like google are one of many primary routes for scammers to achieve victims and getting the likes of Google to take away the hyperlinks would assist shield customers.
A Google Spokesperson stated: “Our superior spam-fighting programs assist maintain Google Search 99 per cent spam free, regardless of ever-evolving makes an attempt from spammers. We’ve got clear spam insurance policies towards misleading techniques and after we discover behaviour that violates our insurance policies, we take motion. We’ll proceed to research and take motion towards any websites that violate our insurance policies.”
Whereas a search by the Impartial returned a rip-off web site high for one search the corporate stated its personal searches put the legit Nobull web site high and the pretend one second.
GoDaddy, Namecheap, and the homeowners of the websites have been contacted for remark.
Nobull didn’t reply to a request for remark by means of its press workplace, however when requested in a direct message through its official X account whether or not different web sites ought to be trusted, it stated: “NOBULL footwear and attire are solely obtainable on-line by means of our official web site.”
