If you examine the website’s security certificate, you see it uses a self-signed Let’s Encrypt certificate. In this guide, we’ll explain the risks of fake websites, warning signs to look out for, and what steps you should take if you fall victim. There are various tactics scammers use for this – spelling the brand name with a typo is one, or a common foreign language spelling of the same word, or adding in a new piece of punctuation. However, there are also cases of people doing this with the top-level domain part of the URL – .com is replaced with .cm, for example. Some scammers will take over domains that are only one or two letters different to a popular website thousands of people will likely be trying to reach on a daily basis. Essentially, the scammers are looking to target the people who type in the domain incorrectly and get directed to their page instead.
- Still have questions about how to check if a website is safe to buy from or visit?
- Hackers build spoof sites to look like sites you already know and trust in order to steal your account information and passwords directly.
- They have a multitude of other benefits too, and there are lots of options – so check out our in-depth provider analysis to see what the best VPNs for 2024 are.
- The most common tactic among website spoofers is creating a URL that is nearly identical to a legitimate website.
- If you see one of these warnings, close the window or click “back to safety” to avoid a potentially unsafe site.
- This often means the reviewers are copying information or that the reviews were all written by the same person.
If there aren’t any reviews on the site, you can run a Google search for “Is website name/URL real/a scam? ” The Better Business Bureau’s Scam Tracker website is also a great place to check for is bitcoin a good investment and should i invest in bitcoin negative reviews about a company. One way to tell if a website is real or fake is to check how long it’s been active by using the Whois Lookup domain tracker.
Common Problems
If a site isn’t TLS/SSL certified, any data you send is at risk of being intercepted. The body of the email often contains a shocking accusation that requires immediate action for you to lower your guard. Banks, governments, and retail businesses have standard practices for resolving issues. If an email claiming to be from a trusted source asks you to act out of the ordinary, contact the originator through the official channels. Looking for a padlock should always be combined with the other the best free vpn 2020 checks we’ve recommended. In this case, it’s probably best to give any suspicious website a miss.
Would You Know If You’re On a Fake Website?
Reviews provide a pretty good picture of whether or not a website is safe, because people don’t like being scammed or having their information shared without permission. Most websites have privacy policies due to legal requirements, but it’s also the fastest way to learn about what information a site can collect from you and how they use it. You can usually find the privacy policy linked in the footer at the bottom of the website or via a site search. An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a digital certificate that certifies that a website is legitimate and that it offers encryption to protect personal information and financial data.
You can report the fake website to Microsoft by submitting its URL on the Microsoft Security Intelligence page. You can report the fake website to Google by submitting its URL on the Google Safe Browsing page. The site also includes a section called “What investors say,” featuring stock photos of people claiming to be investors. Your card will be charged either a monthly or annual fee, depending on the membership plan you choose.
Avoiding clicking unknown links is common internet practice, but what if you think you do know the source of the link? Since there’s a chance the email did not originate from the claimed sender, it is wise to avoid the link anyway. Since a third party produces the SSL for the website, double-check the certificate by comparing it to the URL. If it was issued how to buy a ruby to a website that is different from the domain in the URL, then something fishy is going on and it shouldn’t be trusted. You should also check the company’s social media pages for recent activity and to see what other people are posting on their social channels. These are rarely used for online shopping so may have been acquired by questionable people or organisations.
What to Do If You’ve Been Scammed
If you’re a victim of an online scam, there are a few measures you can take to protect yourself (and potentially protect others). What you need to do next depends on what type of information you believe the scammer may have on you. The downside to this is that not all SSL certificates are authentic. These sites are usually caught pretty quickly, but it’s still best to look a little harder at the padlock just to be sure.
Check User, Google, and Trustpilot Reviews (if Available)
It can help prevent people from falling victim to these online scams. What you can avoid, however, is making a mistake on one of these sites — such as clicking on a link, giving up private information, or sending money. Some fake websites trick victims by changing the order of the domains, such as in Microsoft.fakewebsite.com (in this example, “Microsoft” is the subdomain, not the official domain). Others use official-looking domain names that are altogether different from the official organization, but most people just don’t know enough to question the authenticity. Many fake websites appear to have legitimate URLs, but actually contain slight variations or spelling mistakes. This may include small misspellings or characters that look similar to others in order to spoof real URLs, such as replacing the letter “o” with the number “0.”