San Francisco, CA: September 28, 2026 – McAfee Labs reported a roughly 10% increase in scam URLs and emails impersonating popular brands around major shopping moments in the 2025 holiday season, and named Coach as the most impersonated luxury brand.
Gen Digital's telemetry showed the same direction: blocked fake-shop attacks in the US were up 185% in October compared with the January to September average, a sign that attackers prepare well ahead of the sales events themselves.
Shoppers rely on brand recognition as a shortcut for trust, and that is precisely what impersonators exploit. A familiar logo, a plausible domain and a discount deep enough to prompt a quick decision are often all it takes.
“Gift-giving season turns brand recognition into an attack surface. Brands that prepare their monitoring and takedown channels in September are in far better shape in December,” says Hannah Fletcher, marketing and events manager at MarkScout.
MarkScout advises clients to review the domains, social handles and marketplace listings they monitor before peak season, and to agree takedown escalation paths with their legal and customer-service teams in advance.