Fraudulent websites are misrepresentative websites pretending to be legitimate sites that deal with the provision of services, goods, or information that are in the game to garner information and revenues at the expense of their unsuspecting victims. Fraudulent websites have become rampant and extremely pervasive.
A research report recently published by Statista now indicates that over 165,772 unique phishing websites were detected in the first quarter of 2020. These websites are designed to appear like real websites, and it can be tough for a user to identify the legitimate website from the many illegitimate websites that are available on the internet today.
However, with the automated detection systems in play, users can now identify fake websites from fraudulent ones with a google duplicate content checker. However, it is still not clear how these detection systems are effective in detecting fraudulent websites. The burden lies on the user
Users should understand some of the ways that they can use to differentiate legitimate websites from the illegitimate one. This article explains some of the ways with which this can be achieved.
Pay Attention to the Address Bar of the Website
Very few people pay attention to the address bars of those websites that they are visiting. The address bar can tell you a lot about the legitimacy of a website. An address bar can make a user tell if or not a site is secure. So, as a user, make it a habit of continually grabbing a glance at the address bar of different websites that you will be visiting.
One of the things that you will be checking in the address bar is the domain name of the website. Many fake sites will try to mimic the domain name of a renowned brand or product. However, the website is nothing close to the official website of the said brand. If you have any suspicions about the domain name of the site, then it is safe if you left the website immediately. It could be a fake one.
Creating an almost indistinguishable website from the real website has been one of the dominant tactics that have been employed in the phishing scams. Hackers have become sophisticated and inventive at the same time with how they copy the URLs. They can also create subdomains that mimic the real domain. A user should be able to identify such kind of tactics and avoid them.
Think Twice When the Deal is Too Good
You can tell if a website is a scam by just looking at the deals that it offers. For instance, a fake shopping ecommerce store will provide great deals with low prices and bizarre discounts. This can be a perfect red flag that indicates that a website is a fraudulent one. If the deal that the site is offering is too good to be true, then it probably is.
Fraudulent sites will lay a bait of great offers and extremely low prices to lure the unsuspecting and the bargain-hungry customers into the buying fake or non-existent products. It is essential to know the standard prices of the items that you intend to buy. Anything below the standard price should be given a second thought. It just could be a hacker’s bait.
Pay Attention to Security Indicators
Legitimate websites will significantly value the security of their web visitors. They are going to do all to ensure that the clients and all their resources are protected. It is very easy for a hacker to eavesdrop a conversation over the internet. Unless it is the intention of the website for this to happen, any legitimate website should be able to prevent it. One of the things that legitimate sites will do to ensure that the users are safe is to install an SSL certificate.
All secure websites would use the HTTPS and not the HTTP. The SSL certificate enables the HTTPS feature, is the secure version of HTTP. It prevents communication from being intercepted and ensures that only the intended user reads the information. Never at any point should you trust HTTP websites with your vital data. You could just be sharing your information with a fraudster or putting your entire data in great jeopardy.
A secure website will have a padlock icon that indicates that the sites is secured with an SSL certificate. SSL certificate carries different validations, for example, those websites that are protected with EV SSL certificate, where a company name will be displayed upon clicking on a padlock. You should also check on the information of the SSL to ensure that a trusted certificate provider issued the certificate. Keep in mind that you should purchase an SSL from the reliable and best SSL certificate provider.
Check the Transfer Method that is Used by the Website
If you just bought something via a website and then you are required to wire the payment directly via the bank, then this could be a red flag that the site is a fraudulent one. A legitimate website would never ask you to pay directly via the bank. Payment methods such as the use of a credit card or a debit card guarantee you your funds whenever the item that you just bought turns out to be fake or non-existent. This is not the case with direct fund transfer. There is going to be very little that you can do to get a refund from the bank.
Check Out for Online Reviews
You can check out for customer feedbacks and product reviews to see what other people are saying about the website and its products. Positive reviews could be a green light for you to go ahead and transact with the site. Negative reviews and feedback, on the other hand, could be a sound signal that things are not well with the website. Never transact with a website or visit a site which has negative reviews.
There are several sources that you can use to find customer feedbacks that can help identify a negative website. Sources such as Sitejabber, Feefo and TrustPilot could be essential when you need reviews about a website. You can also check out for the social media pages of a company and read from the many customer comments about their products.
Any negative feedback and customer dissatisfaction could be a perfect indicator that the website might be involved in suspicious activities. When checking out for reviews, I recommend that you use multiple sources. The reason is that there have been cases of review purchases which end up not showing the real picture of what an organization or a website is all about.
Check the About Us Page and Contact Information of the Website
A legitimate website should have an ‘about us’ page that spells out what the site is all about. If a website lacks the about us page, then there is no need of entering into any contract with the website.
It would help if you also looked for the contact information on the website. A legitimate website will have all its contact information spelt out on the website. Some of the things that you should be looking out for is the phone contacts, email address and the physical location of the website. No legitimate website will fail to give out these details.
Nature of the Content
A legitimate website will invest enough to ensure that all the content that appears on its website is of the utmost quality. Suppose you visit a site and come across numerous spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, poor paragraphing, and generally poor-quality content. In that case, the website is likely one that cannot be trusted. The best option is to check out.
The Return Policy
When dealing with a website that engages in the sale of goods online, you should check out for the refund policy as well as the shipping policy. If it is a legitimate website, then it will spell out how you can return a faulty product and get back a refund. Anything short of this could be an indicator that the website is an illegitimate one.
Conclusion
The internet is full of scammers. Hackers have become smart and have gone a notch higher even to start creating fake websites and even those that mimic the real ones. Getting to know which site is fake and which one is real can be a bit hard. However, with these tips in place, you can easily get to know which website is fake and which one is real. Following them will help you to stay safe.
