DeepSeek's explosion has led to a wave of imitations. According to the latest report from XLab, a Chinese cybersecurity company, there are already 2,650 DeepSeek copycat websites and phishing sites, and the number is still increasing rapidly, so users need to be highly vigilant. Spoofed sites utilize similar domain names and interfaces to mislead users and are used to spread malware, steal personal information, or fraudulently obtain subscription fees.
A statistical analysis of domain name registrations from December 1, 2024 to February 3, 2025, conducted by Qi An Xin XLab, found that large-scale registrations of spoofed DeepSeek domain names began on January 26, 2025 and peaked on January 28, 2025, and continued to grow in number, although the increase has since diminished.
These spoofed domain names are mainly used for phishing, domain name squatting, and traffic diversion, with phishing being used to commit fraud by stealing users' login credentials, misleading users with similar domain names and interfaces, and tricking users into buying virtual assets. In addition, 60% of the resolution IPs of these spoofed domain names are located in the US, while the rest are mainly distributed in Singapore, Germany, Lithuania, Russia and China, implying that the potential security threats are more complex and diverse.
The scammers have also launched air coins (virtual currencies with no real value) with various high-level features called "DeepSeek-enhanced", and there are even websites claiming to be able to buy DeepSeek's internal original shares, which may bring large amounts of property losses to users.
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