Scam Designs: How Hackers Use UX/UI to Trick You

Getting you confused isn't a mistake. It's part of the plan. Every icon you recognize, every button you click without thinking, might be part of a carefully crafted design meant to lower your guard.
And we're not talking about rookie errors. These are polished user experiences, built not to help you, but to deceive you.

Today, cybercriminals follow the same design principles used by the biggest brands. They replicate navigation flows, mimic visual styles, and create perfectly timed feelings of urgency. They do it so well that most people don't even realize they're caught in a trap. In this article, we'll show you how social engineering has adopted UX/UI techniques to become even more effective. Because understanding what these scam designs look like, and how they work, is the first step to avoiding them.

What Is Social Engineering and What Does It Have to Do with Those Perfectly Crafted Designs That Trick You?

Social engineering is, simply put, the art of manipulating people into doing something they normally wouldn’t. It’s not about hackers cracking impossible codes, but about convincing you, through words, emotions, and design, to give away information that should remain private.

In cybersecurity, social engineering attacks work because they play on our trust. They lower our defenses so that, without even realizing it, we end up sharing sensitive data: passwords, company information, credit card numbers, or even downloading files that come with very unpleasant surprises.

The trick? These days, it’s not just about suspicious calls or alarming messages. They go much further: they create websites that look completely legitimate, emails that appear to come from your bank, and notifications that are almost identical to those from the apps you use every day. All of this is powered by user experience (UX) design techniques meant to make you click without hesitation.

And once they have that information, the damage can be huge: money theft, identity fraud, or even large-scale attacks targeting entire companies.

How Do Hackers Design a Social Engineering Attack Using UX/UI Techniques?

Behind every scam that looks too real to be fake, there’s more than just luck. There’s design. A lot of design. And not just any design. We’re talking about user experience (UX/UI) techniques used for deception. Here's how they do it, step by step:

1. They spy to seem trustworthy: First, they research their target. They check which banks you use, what platforms you frequent, which services are part of your daily life. The more they know, the easier it is to create something familiar. The goal is for you to see it and not suspect a thing.

2. They clone interfaces like designers: This is where their "creative" side shines. They copy colors, logos, menus, fonts... even tiny quirks that only real users would recognize. That recurring typo you always see on the original site? They’ll replicate it too. All so you don’t jump up thinking, “this is fake.”

3. They play with your emotions: It’s not enough for it to look good. The message has to rush you, scare you, or spark your curiosity. So they design emails and alerts that say things like: “Your account will be suspended in 24 hours if you don’t update your information!” The goal is simple: act before you think.

4. They guide you step by step, like a real app: The entire journey is mapped out like a UX flow. One click leads to the next, everything feels logical, fast, easy. Only in this case, the button you press doesn’t solve a problem, it hands your data over to a cybercriminal.

Attackers are no longer betting on you failing to notice. They’re betting on you not even questioning whether what you’re seeing is real. And they achieve this by using the same principles of good design that any trustworthy company would apply. That’s why learning to spot these scam designs is more important than ever.

Read more: What is Phishing? Protect Yourself from Digital Deception

Real Examples of Social Engineering Attacks (and How Design Plays a Role Too)

Netflix Case: Fake Account Suspension Emails (2017 – 2025)

Netflix has been one of the most impersonated brands in the world. Over the years, attackers have sent millions of emails claiming there was an issue with the payment method and urging users to update their information immediately. What did they do right?

1. Emails that looked visually identical to official Netflix messages

2. Login screens replicated pixel by pixel

3. A clean, convincing “update your payment info” flow

Every part of the design was crafted so you wouldn’t stop to think. You just kept clicking… until you unknowingly handed over your banking information.

LinkedIn Case: Job Offers That Were a Trap (2022)

LinkedIn faced a wave of attacks where cybercriminals posed as recruiters from well-known companies like Google and Amazon.

1. They used fake profiles with professional-looking photos and well-crafted bios

2. They sent highly polished direct messages, inviting targets to interviews or to fill out external forms

3. The landing pages looked identical to legitimate job portals

The result? Candidates ended up giving away personal information or unknowingly downloading malware.

Example of a fake landing page on LinkedIn

WhatsApp Case: “I Sent You a Code by Mistake” (Since 2021)

One of the most common tricks on WhatsApp: someone messages you saying they accidentally sent you a verification code and politely asks you to forward it back. So, where’s the UX deception?

1. The message is short and casual, just like something a friend would send

2. It leverages WhatsApp’s familiar interface and your trust in your contact list

By forwarding that code, you’re essentially handing over access to your account. It’s simple, quick, and effective—because everything feels normal, and that’s exactly what makes it so dangerous.

PayPal Case: Fake Transaction Confirmation (2023)

Another high-level impersonation scam: emails designed to look like official PayPal notifications, claiming you’ve made an unauthorized payment or added a new shipping address.

1. The email uses official-looking design: logo, fonts, and corporate colors

2. A prominent “Dispute this transaction” button draws attention

3. The entire flow mimics the real PayPal interface... but actually takes you to a fake site where you unknowingly enter your login credentials

The goal is clear: create urgency, leverage visual trust, and exploit the panic of thinking “Someone stole my money!”

Read more: Amazon Card Phishing Threatens Microsoft Accounts

5 Tips to Protect Your Company from Social Engineering Attacks

Today, social engineering attacks are no longer easy to spot. Attackers use user experience (UX) techniques to make everything look trustworthy: legitimate-looking emails, official websites, and notifications that feel completely normal. Everything is designed to lower your guard—so you fall for it without even realizing. To help your team avoid falling into these well-crafted traps, here are 5 essential tips:

1. Be Suspicious of What Looks “Too Perfect”

Just because a site looks great or an email seems flawless doesn’t mean it’s legitimate. Even if everything matches the original—logos, colors, buttons—if you’re being asked to update personal data or act urgently, pause and double-check.

2. Inspect the URL and the Visual Details

Hackers rely on the fact that people overlook tiny differences. A web address with a single altered letter can go unnoticed. Before clicking a link or entering your password, carefully check the URL, sender address, and even the shape or wording of the buttons.

3. Train Your Team to “Think Before Clicking”

Your strongest defense isn’t antivirus software it’s a culture of healthy skepticism. Everyone in your company should know how to spot unusual emails, overly urgent messages, or strange requests for sensitive information. If something feels off, it probably is. Building this awareness is more powerful than any firewall.

4. Secure Your Systems but Don’t Rely on Them Alone

Yes, you need antimalware, firewalls, and regular software updates. But remember: technical security won’t save you if someone is tricked by a perfectly crafted fake interface and hands over the keys. The only effective protection is a combination of solid tech and sharp human judgment.

5. Fine-Tune Your Email Filters

Phishing almost always enters through the most commonly used door: email. It often comes in the form of a message that “looks perfect”—complete with logos, signatures, and even links that seem official—but is actually a trap designed to steal your trust.

Having a well-configured spam filter is a huge help: it can block the majority of these emails before they even reach your inbox. It’s also crucial to keep an updated list of safe senders and properly authenticate your domains, so suspicious messages are easier to spot. At TecnetOne, we make this possible with TecnetProtect. So, what does TecnetProtect do to secure your email?

1. Filters malicious emails in real time using AI and machine learning that analyze not just the sender, but the content, attachments, and links.

2.  

   Detects and blocks advanced phishing attempts, including identity spoofing (e.g., emails pretending to be from your bank, vendors, or clients).

3.  

   Protects against malware and ransomware hidden in attachments or malicious links.

4.  

   Authenticates your domains to ensure legitimate messages get through safely while fake ones get filtered out (using SPF, DKIM, and DMARC validations).

5.  

   Prevents data leaks by applying intelligent rules that analyze outgoing emails for unauthorized sensitive information.

With TecnetProtect, we fortify your communications so that email remains what it should be: a powerful work tool—not a gateway for attacks.

Read more: Device Security with TecnetProtect

Conclusion

When attackers start thinking like designers, they don’t create obvious traps—they create seamless experiences. Everything you see (buttons, colors, urgent messages) is carefully crafted to make you trust without hesitation, to feel so natural that you don’t stop for even a second to question it.

That’s why protecting yourself today isn’t just about having good security systems or antivirus software. It’s about learning to look with a critical eye, about questioning even what seems normal. When everything looks “right,” smart skepticism becomes your best defense. It’s not about being paranoid—it’s about developing that inner alert that says, “What if I double-check before clicking?”

At TecnetOne, we believe that real protection starts with people. Raising awareness, training alert and thoughtful users, is just as important as having the best firewall. Because all the technology in the world won’t help if someone hands over their credentials thinking they’re doing the right thing.