Fake online shops scam: Half a million people have shared their credit card security codes

Shopping scam is one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created. Photograph: Alamy/PA More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China. An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Monde gives a rare inside look at the mechanics of what the UK's Chartered Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created. A trove of…