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Articles · Fake websites · 2 min read
How to spot a fake website?
Fake shops are built to look real at first glance — the logo, the photos, the reviews. Here’s what one actually looks like, and six simple checks that will catch it.
Six quick checks
OFFICIAL CLEARANCE
AIR RUNNERS
€189.99
€39.99
−79%6Pay by bank transfer
extra −10%5Contact us: form only · no address · no phone
4Most fakes don’t survive the first two.
Ask how you got here
If you typed the address yourself or used your own bookmark, you chose where you landed — shop normally. If you came through an ad, a link in a message, or a search result, someone else chose it for you. That’s when you run the checks below.
Read the address — who really owns this site?
Every website address has one owner: the word right before the last dot-something (.com, .shop, .co.uk). The rest of the address means nothing:
The owner is nike.com — you’re really at Nike.
The owner is deals-now.shop — a stranger. The “nike.com” in front is only there to trick you.
If the owner isn’t the brand you expected — leave. Nothing else on the page matters: not the design, not the reviews.
The padlock icon proves nothing.
Search the address in a new tab
Open a new tab and search the address plus “reviews” or “scam” — for example brand-megasale.shop reviews. Fake shops get reported fast, so a quick search usually shows if others were burned there.
Look for the company behind the page
Real shops say who they are: a company name, a street address, a phone number or an email that answers. If all you find is a contact form and no address, there’s nobody home — and nobody to give you a refund if something goes wrong.
Check how they want to be paid
Pay by card or PayPal — those payments can be reversed if something goes wrong. Bank transfers, crypto and gift cards can’t, which is exactly why fake shops push them. A “discount” for paying by transfer is a warning, not a gift.
Feel for pressure: the deal and the clock
A price far below every other shop, a clock counting down on your cart — these exist to rush you. Pressure is there so you skip checks 1–5.
Six checks, about twenty seconds. There is no deal worth a payment you can’t get back.
Knowledge fades.
Unless it’s used.
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