Ask HN: Help Me Understand This Website Scam (Friends Business Site Cloned)

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43353294
by ziptron • 1 year ago
4 2 1 year ago

Hoping the community can help analyze a suspicious site that clones my friend's legitimate business.

    Nutripea (https://nutripea.com/) → Real company, real physical location.
    Norleaf Food (https://norleaffood.com/) → Clone of Nutripea’s website, no physical location, questionable intent.
A few things stand out:
    -The source code of Norleaf Food is nearly identical to Nutripea’s, including Nutripea’s Google Analytics ID.
    -In some places, they forgot to change Nutripea’s physical address, suggesting a careless copy-paste job.
    -The Wayback Machine shows Norleaf Food first appeared a few years ago, then disappeared, and now it’s back.
    -The contact form on Norleaf Food is slightly modified and submits data to FormCarry (a form submission service).
I’ve tried emailing Norleaf, but no response. I’m wondering:
    What could be the purpose of cloning this site?
    Does anything in the source code hint at their intent?
    Has anyone seen similar scams before, and what’s the endgame?

Related Stories

Loading related stories...

Source preview

news.ycombinator.com