Is the website legit : How to spot a scam site? (Definitive Guide)

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On daily basis, you get bombarded by multiple websites, advertisement and opportunities. All claiming to be the best, with high earning potential with no investment or even minimal investment. I am sure you will be wondering, how many of this is actually real earning opportunities or they are merely just a scam or fraudulent sites that are there to drain you of your hard earning money! Some sites could even potentially be filled with trojan or viruses that seek to exploit any potential backdoor on your computer to steal personal informations. In this definitive guide, I will share with you some of the 5 signs of SCAM sites which I know will help you.

Too Good To Be True

This is definitely one of the major red flag of a potential scam site. This is mainly about common sense, although most of the time, people tend to ignore this and they get too blinded by the ‘GREAT’ deals or high return promises. For example, when you are looking for a good deal online, you would definitely look for a site that gives the best deal. A new Iphone XS for $199 or even a site that promises you will earn $9,999 just by investing $0.50. Who wouldn’t want to get these deals or grab the opportunity of earning $9,999 just by investing $0.50? Scammers is well aware of human nature of being greedy or even looking for a quick way out, which is why they will take advantage of this.

When you are looking for a work from home site, or looking to purchase something online, it is always better to think twice and double check the facts especially when the deal looks too good to be true! For me, even simple purchase online – if it is anything above $50 especially if it is any electrical gadget such as phone, laptops – it is always important for me to search for the product brand site, read through the specifications etc, read other site reviews or maybe watch some youtube review before I make a decision. Another method is also to check out the same product at the competitors websites (genuine ones). If the prices difference is too big, there’s a chance it may be a scam or there may be hidden charges or terms.

Check The Small Prints or Terms of Service or Conditions

Read through the website and look for the Terms of Service or any disclaimer pages. Read the fine print there – often times, scammers take the easy way out and uses a standard template and did not even bother to change some of the sections as they feel by having a Terms of Service or disclaimer pages, it gives the website some form of credibility or professionalism. If this pages are missing or have typos or incomplete, you really should think twice about purchasing anything from this site. If this is a genuine and proper site, do you think the seller would actually put an incomplete page or unprofessional pages on their business site?

Multiple Upsale or Downsale

This may not necessary be a sign of scam, although this tactic used by a majority of businesses or affiliate marketers with the intention of trying to sell you more items or entice you to purchase something from the site. Be careful of these as well, as usually there may be hidden charges such is monthly subscription with no way to unsubscribe or it actually cost you most to unscubsribe. In my experience, not all the upsale or downsale are bad, some actually do give a very good deal that does not trick or scam you into losing your hard earn cash and these were mainly from trusted and legit sites.

Any Mis-typed Brand Names or So Called Endorsement by Famous Personality?

I have come across a number of sites or products that has advertised claiming that the programme or product is endorse by Jack Ma (Alibaba Founder), Michelle Yeoh (one of the Bond Actress) or even Beyonce or Kim Kardashian. A lot of this fraudulent sites also uses brand names like Nike, Apple, Samsung in combination with keywords like cheap, free or discounted mainly to get visitors through search engines or social media. Famous brands usually do not sell their products via third party website unless they are their offical distributor.

Endorsements from famous personality may not always be a scam, however, its always important to have a look and feel of these websites. By reading through the so-called ‘claims’ by the famous personality, take some time to think – does it really make sense to you that these famous personality would be endorsing such products or programmes? Does it align with their profile or interest or the current news. Are some of the photos taken from the news or publicly available photos? Sometimes, to make the site looks genuine, fraudsters may be taking public photos of the famous personality and photoshoped that onto the programmes or products that they are promoting.

Any Social Media Links?

In this Social Media era, it is very common for all sites to have social media links or icons as it is a core part of ecommerce business. If there are social media links, click through to see if it actually goes to the social media account of the site. However, be vary and check the link first – hover your mouse over the icon and see what is the URL that it is link to. For example, if it is a Facebook Page – does the link starts with facebook.com/xxxx or a url shortener. If the links doesn’t work or it opens to a blank page or account with no post or updates or even angry users posting their comments (this is a major alert!), it might be a fake account. Scammers might put it there just to give an air of professionalism. Often times, these scammers would not be bothered to create actual social media accounts with actual posts. At times, you may even find that the social media functionality doesn’t even work!

Still Not Sure If The Site is Legit?

If you still cannot be sure that the site is legit even after checking through the 5 signs above, my advice is to AVOID the site entirely. It’s better to be safe than sorry. After all, there are many legit sites out there – why waste your hard earned cash on a fake site?

You might agree with me or not, either way, leave your comments below!

Till then,

Alston C.

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