The internet has created a lot of opportunities, eased livelihood and businesses worldwide but like the saying, “everything has a good and bad side”. Criminals and conmen have now resorted to the internet as a hunting ground for you and me. Many of us have ever fallen victim of internet scammers.
This has made many people think that there is nothing good over the internet other than being robbed of the little money they have and their personal information falling into the wrong hands.
I’m going to share with you the different indicators of illegitimate websites and scams. How to go survive in this era of cyber attacks and hackers?
Scammers don’t only want money from you but your private information is also as much of important to them as they can use it immediately or in the future. They typically want your bank account, debit and credit card information, social security number, usernames and passwords, physical address, and other private and comprising information.
These are the obvious indicators that the site you are on may be for spammers and have to be keener. Observe the site for these indicators before you proceed to provide your private information and money for any transaction.
Read Also: The Complete Guide to the Geek Squad Email Scam and Tips to Avoid it
Contents
1. Observe the Website’s URL and the Content on the Page.
In most cases, we don’t even look at the URL of the pages we go to but this is very important especially when the page is requesting your login credentials, personal information, or bank account/card information. You can come across a Facebook login page asking you to log in yet the URL of the page is different from that of Facebook, www.face-book.com. If you come across such a page, just know you’re on a scammers’ page.
Multiple symbols or dashes in the domain name and domain names that imitate the actual business name for example www.Amaz0n.com
2. The SSL/TLS Certificate.
Initially, the sole purpose of the Internet was to share information between the government, organizations, and people. The websites had an HTTP connection type which transferred data in a text format and a third party could easily access the information, which was okay by then. Today, the internet is dominated by business and there are monetary transfers all the time, which requires more privacy, and no third party.
Due to this, the connection was made more secure by developing the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), then, the Transport Layer Security (TLS) which was incorporated into the HTTP to come up with HTTPS, a more secure connection that transfers information in an encrypted format.
A secure website must have an HTTPS connection with a green padlock and a valid certificate in front of the URL, especially on the page which requires sensitive information.
The most trusted business websites today are those which have the Extended Validation (EV) SSL certificate. Their names are right in front of the URL, for example, Apple, Amazon, and PayPal.
3. The Domain Extensions
The domain extensions tell much about a website’s legitimacy and credibility. The most trusted and secure extensions are the “.gov” and “.edu”. For online shopping stores, “.com” is predominant and can be trusted though have to put other precautions into play whereas the “.net” and “.org” extensions are rarely used by online shopping stores and this raises an alarm.
Be more careful with the “.info” and “.biz” extensions. The “.com” and “.net” extensions, are credible but be careful because they’re the easiest to get.
4. The “About Us” Page of the Website
A legit business or website will always want its visitors to know more about them and what they are willing to offer. So the “about us” page must contain all the information about the website, business entity, or organization behind it. For scammers, you won’t see valuable information provided. In most cases, no information or an “about us” page.
5. The “Contact Us” Information
This includes the email address, phone number, live chat link, and sometimes the physical address of the website. Send an email to the provided email address and wait for the reply, a fake website does have non-existing email addresses and you won’t see any reply.
Call the phone number provided, if someone picks up and talks to you in a professional way, then it is okay, but if it doesn’t pass through or no one picks up, then that’s a red light. An immediate indicator of a scam platform is the absence of “contact us” information on the website.
Read Also: How to Avoid Being a Victim Of Phone Scammers
6. Proper Spelling, Grammar, and Content Sensibility
A reliable site would make sure that the content posted is more accurate in terms of English spelling, grammar, unnecessary repetitions, text sensibility, and phrasing. If you see such in the content, be keener. Although this can be exceptional since there are numerous areas where English is a second language and it does not account for the sites’ illegitimacy, other precautions must be examined.
7. Invasive Advertisements
Watch out for invasive advertisements and excess pop-ups. Ads that take up the whole page, require you to take immediate action or a survey before proceeding, redirect you to a different page, and are suggestive.
8. Social Media Accounts of the Website
Scammers fear expressing themselves and so fake websites can’t have up-to-date information on their social media accounts provided they happen to have them, which is so rare. The social media icons can be available on the website but the number of followers won’t be shown and the links don’t work.
9. Website Map and Physical address
Some websites have physical addresses at the bottom of their pages especially those that involve paying for services or goods. Copy the address provided, paste it into Google Maps, and check out the exact location. For spammers, you may find that the address provided for a business offering work-from-home jobs at a given price per month or quantity of work is for a coffee shop. The address is incorrect.
10. For online stores, look for a money-back guarantee or returns policy
Some scammers who even have valid certificates, have a non-refund policy. Most of them hide them at the bottom of the page such that you hardly see them and others don’t have anything like a policy about returns and refunds. If you happened to see such a thing, don’t proceed with the transaction.
11. Copyright Status
When you scroll down to the extreme end of this page, you will see the copyright status of this website updated, “copyright 2019”. For any legit and credible website, its copyright has to be updated and current. Unfortunately, scammers are such lazy dudes, if you come across a site with a “copyright 2017”, yet we’re in 2019, then that’s a red flag be careful.
12. Security seals and trust marks
There are almost 50 security seals and trust marks but if a website has at least one or two prominent seals or marks from reputable and trusted issuers then it’s okay to proceed.
13. Emails and sites asking for a direct bank transfer
To my understanding, everyone who owns a Gmail account must have received some emails in their spam folders telling them that they’re granted a huge amount of dollars and their bank account information is required for them to wire the money to you, or you are to purchase a commodity at an extravagant discount by bank transfer. Shy away from such emails and sites.
14. Sites that offer something that looks good to be true
I think you have come across some adverts or one day you will come across them. They ask you to register on the website, pay for a membership, start earning online, and earn $20 per hour without hustling.
Who told you that making money online is easy? No. Online money has never been easy as scammers might manipulate and convince you to think. There is real work and you have to work hard to earn money online. So don’t fall for such fake offers in the line of getting rich quickly.
15. You have a virus on your computer or a case to answer with the International Authorities
If you happen to come across a page with such information that requires you to seek assistance from them by reaching out to them or paying some money, of course, they want money and a payment link would be there. That is a scam; don’t waste your valuable time.
If you happen to see a couple of the above indicators, then you can undertake the following steps to further verify the website.
Visit Review Websites and Read Honest Reviews from Real People
In February 2019, I survived losing my $33 to a website that appears to be legit with a certificate yet the owner takes people’s money without a refund. This website deals with PayPal withdrawals in Uganda. I came across the site and registered last year. The site’s design and layout are too good to be fake but there is no contact information provided. I don’t know whether I was in a rush or what? I always ask myself, “Why I did do the last thing first?” I initiated the PayPal withdrawal.
After initiating the PayPal withdrawal, money was transferred to the website owner’s PayPal account, I decided to look for more information about the website, I went to Facebook and Twitter, Oh my God, negative reviews everywhere, people complaining, rated 2.0, Imagine!, I quickly rushed to PayPal and opened up a dispute on the transaction and the money was refunded after around three weeks. So reviews are very important for verifying the website’s credibility and legitimacy.
You can find reviews on major review sites (visit several review sites, not one/two) like TipAdviser, TrustPilot, ReviewCentre, ScamAdviser, SiteJabber, and IsLegitSite. Be observant about the similarity of the writing style and word grouping as you might notice that there are similarities in the reviews about the website in question. This is an indicator of a fake website because that means that the reviews were written by the same person or an organized group of people.
Website Ownership Information
There are sites where you can copy and paste the URL of the website in question to check for the site ownership information, such as Whois.net. Some website owners decide to keep their own information private, but for any legit website, the information about the organization or person behind it would be publically provided.
Use the Google Transparency Report
This tool ranks a website and gives it a rating. Also identifies legit websites that are comprised. Copy and paste the URL of the website you want to verify into the Google Transparency Report webpage, click, “go” and wait for the results.
You can also use Comodo and Voila to inspect the security of the website.
Precautions
Never flow suspicious links and pop-ups. Always search for something directly in the search bar.
Never pay by bank transfer except for government and authorities’ taxes. Develop a habit of paying using a credit card because there are more chances of a refund in case the business doesn’t go on well whereby for bank transfers there are fewer chances.
Conclusion
After falling victim to internet scams, I decided to share with you all the above tips such that you don’t fall into the hunters’ traps and enjoy the internet with all its benefits, safe and secure.