13 tips to identify fake websites that every internet user should know

More often, a good number of internet users are faced with challenges of spotting fake websites. Unfortunately many people have been deceived and misleaded by different contents on the internet and social media that turned out to be scam. Such mistakes may lead to regrets and loss of funds if not properly handled.

However, such contents may come in different forms such as phone calls, robocalls, text messages or email. Fraudsters often make false promises, such as opportunities to buy products, investment, or free product trials. 

The purpose of such content is  either to gain an authorized access to their personal information such as credit card, bank information or access to funds which may lead to loss of funds.

Although relevant authorities such as Facebook, Google and other social platforms are trying all possible best to reduce these menace to the barest minimum but there's also a need for internet users to understand how a fake website looks like and operates in order not to fall victim.

According to  2020 online  report published on The FBI’s website, a total of 791,790 complaints of suspected internet crime—an increase of more than 300,000 complaints from 2019—and reported losses exceeding $4.2 billion. This is a clear indication that the activities of the fraudsters are increasing drastically over the years.

The report listed phishing scams, non-payment/non-delivery scams, and extortion as main target of the fraudsters.

TYPES OF SCAM:

Phishing: Phishing is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending series of e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source, financial institution, an internet service provider. Stating that a victim's account has been compromised. The victim may be asked to enter sensitive details for validation and activation. Such information would then be stored in a database and could be used to attack the victim's account.

Non-payment Scam: 

In non-payment scams where the victim is the seller, items or services are sent, but payment is never received.

Non-delivery Scam:

Non-delivery of goods or failure to ship merchandise is the simplest type of auction fraud. A seller lists an item, the item is purchased, the seller collects the funds, and the seller does not send the item.

Extortion:
An extortion scam is a type of scam where someone threatens, coerces, or blackmails the victim into providing a form of payment or service.

How Does it Works

During an email extortion scam, the scammer will send out extortion emails to many people. The email threatens to make embarrassing information public unless the victim pays. 

Romantic Scam:

Romance scams occur when a criminal adopts a fake online identity to gain a victim’s affection and trust. The scammer then uses the illusion of a romantic or close relationship to manipulate and steal from the victim.

Misleading Contents:

Such practice may involved a certain discount for product or services which is not true but only to gain the attention of people. 

Having stated clearly types of scam, let's look at how internet users can easily spot such websites or individuals.

Here are 13 ways to spot a fake website

1 . The domain name:

A lot of fraudulent websites will use a domain name that references a well-known brand or product. However, such domain name may be different from the official one. For example, website domains such as www.read360.cash( only for illustration) may be trying to impersonate the official website of read.cash hence may be a warning sign.

2. Green  padlock: 

A padlock next to a website's address bar means the site is encrypted and secured therefore such site may be safe. Most websites now have this feature, so if you notice a site doesn't have one it could be a red flag. Such site may display an indication with the inscription "Site not secure". Nowadays, scammers are able to forge or buy these padlocks, seeing one doesn't always mean that all is well.

3. How Long Has The Website Been in Existence:

Website that has existed for a long time may have a good reputation and such  information can be obtained from WHO.IS website

4. Is The Offer Too Good To Be True:

Fraudsters often make false promises, such as opportunities to buy products, invest money, or  free product trials just to convince the customers. If the offer or promises about products or services on a particular site sounds too good to be true , this may actually be a warning sign.

5. Physical Location Of the Company Office:

Another important information to check on a website is the contact information which includes the physical location of the company's office. A company that has a physical Office address will strive hard to live up its expectations, knowing that the office can easily be traced by anyone. Therefore, if this information is missing, it may be a warning sign.

6. Try To Contact Support:

A company, office or reliable business will always have an online representatives with rapid response rate to help sort out any challenges that may be encountered by users. A website that doesn't respond to tickets is likely to be a fake site.

7. Return policy :

This is mostly seen in e-commerce websites or

 companies selling  products online.  Shipping and return policy should be  listed clearly on its such websites as part of the site terms and condition.

8. Does The Website Has social Media Account:

Fake websites may carefully avoid social media presence because it may give users unrestricted access to communicate their experiences about a certain websites, products or services to others which may not be a positive move for a fake website.

9. Read the site review on TRUST PILOT.

Trust pilot is a free platform where different users come together to share experiences about products and service on the internet. Such rating is very helpful when trying to find out if a site is fake or not and can easily help to expose a fake website.

10. Look for Green Padlock:

  A website address with green padlock means that the site has a valid certificate by a registered authorities. Hence may help to reduce unauthorised access to site data and other sensitive information. A site that does not load on https sever may be vulnerable to hackers.

12. Look for Possible Grammatical blunders: 

A site that is designed in haste by sometimes unqualified personnels may likely include misleading contents and grammatical blunders. This is another warning sign 

13. WHO.IS :

This is a website that gives adequate information about a website , Registrar information, domain name server and other important names. If this information is contradictory or hidden it may likely be a fake site

These few tips may not completely stop the the activities of fraudsters but it will help users to easily spot out fake website and prevent the risks that is associated with such activities. More tips would be added later.

Thanks for your time