Fake TikTok stores now fuel one in five phishing blocks, and Black Friday could make things worse
follow us
Add us as a preferred source on Google
- Surfshark data shows that blocks of a single suspicious TikTok store domain increased by 638% between May and September.
- The domain was behind about one in five phishing blocks worldwide and is still active as of October.
- Exposure to phishing also increased in Europe and the United States, with France seeing the largest increase.
New data from Surfshark shows that a single domain linked to an allegedly spoofed TikTok store operation generated 320,007 phishing blocks between May and September 2026.
That’s 19% of the roughly 1.6 million phishing category blocks recorded worldwide by the company’s web content blocker during those five months. The operation is not slowing down either: in the first 20 days of October, the domain caused another 96,711 blocks.
The findings come weeks before the busiest trading period of the year. They’re also a reminder that even the best VPN can only do so much if you write down your card details convincingly.
A fake store, a fifth of all phishing blocks
Monthly blocks linked to the domain increased from 16,995 in May to 125,413 in September, peaking at 22.2% of all phishing blocks in August.
It is part of a much broader increase. Total phishing category blocks increased 524% between April and September, and blocks per protected device increased 83%, so the growth is not just due to more people using the tool.
“The data clearly shows that users are unknowingly being redirected to fraudulent stores designed to steal money and personal information instead of selling genuine products,” said Justas Pukys, senior product manager at Surfshark.
Phishing exposure increases in Europe and the US
Between April and September, blocked devices per protected device increased by 159% in France, 99% in Italy, 86% in Spain, 54% in the United Kingdom and 38% in Germany.
In the United States, exposure almost doubled. Blocks per protected device increased by 87%, while total phishing blocks increased almost sixfold, from 20,519 to 122,580.
How to stay safe this Black Friday
Surfshark expects phishing to increase again as Black Friday approaches. Pukys recommends checking that all sites are official, manually typing a trusted address if a redirect seems suspicious, and ignoring promotional links sent via SMS or messaging apps. It also suggests paying with single-use virtual cards.
Security tools can help you detect what you’re missing. Surfshark’s own web content blocker, the tool behind this data, allows you to block categories of sites, including phishing, even with the VPN turned off. NordVPN’s next-generation antivirus blocked 94% of phishing sites in the latest AV-Comparatives test, and VPN providers are also strengthening connections, with Surfshark recently bringing full post-quantum security to WireGuard.
Post Comment