How to know if a shopping site is legit
A fake online store can be built in an afternoon and look better than a real one. What it cannot fake is a track record. These are the checks we run on every business, and you can run most of them yourself in a few minutes.
Find the company behind the website
A real business names itself. Look for a registered company name, a company number and an address, usually on the contact page, in the footer or in the terms. Then look the company up on the register where it is based: Companies House in the UK, the state register in the US. The name should match the website, the company should be active and its filings up to date. A website that names no company at all, or names one you cannot find, is the first warning sign.
Check how old the website address is
Every website address has a registration date, and anyone can look it up with a WHOIS lookup (search for “whois” and the address). A store that claims years of happy customers from an address registered a few weeks ago is not what it says it is. Age alone proves nothing, but a new address with deep discounts and no company behind it is the classic pattern.
Read the reviews somewhere the store cannot edit
Testimonials on the website itself can be written by anyone. Look for the business on an independent review site such as Trustpilot or Google, and look at three things: how many reviews there are, how old the profile is, and what the one-star reviews say. A handful of five-star reviews posted in the same week is a warning, not a comfort. No reviews anywhere is not proof of a scam, but it means you are relying on the other checks.
Make sure you can reach a real person
Look for a postal address, a phone number and an email address, and check the address against the company register. A contact form alone is not enough. If the postcode on the website does not match the registered office, ask yourself why.
Look at the prices and the ways to pay
Prices far below every other retailer are the bait. Then look at how you can pay: a credit card or a payment service with buyer protection lets you get money back; a bank transfer, gift cards or cryptocurrency do not. A store that only takes the second kind is telling you something. Check that the checkout page is on the same website address as the store.
Check the safety signs, but do not stop there
A padlock in the address bar only means the connection is encrypted; scam sites have one too. More useful: whether Google Safe Browsing flags the site, whether the company has had a data breach, and whether its email is protected so no one can send mail in its name. These are the technical checks in every Truth Signal report.
Clothing and fashion sites: the extra checks
Fake clothing stores are the most common kind. Run a reverse image search on a product photo: if the same picture appears on other stores under other names, the photos are stolen. Read the returns and shipping pages: a free worldwide shipping promise with no address, or returns to a country the store never mentions, are the usual tells. A size guide copied word for word from a well-known brand is another.
Already paid? What to do
Call your bank straight away. Then report it: Report Fraud in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Police Scotland on 101 in Scotland, ReportFraud.ftc.gov in the US, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in Canada, Scamwatch in Australia, or to your local police anywhere else.
The quick checklist
- The company is named, on the register and active.
- The website address is not weeks old.
- Reviews exist off the site, in numbers, over time.
- An address, a phone number and an email, matching the register.
- Prices make sense and you can pay by card.
- No malware flag, no breach, protected email.
- Product photos and text are not copied from another store.
Questions people ask
Is a padlock enough to show a shopping site is legit?
No. The padlock means the connection to the site is encrypted, and almost every site has one, including fake stores. It says nothing about who runs the site.
Does a Trustpilot page mean a store is legit?
No. Anyone can have a profile. What matters is how many reviews there are, how long the profile has existed and what the lowest ratings say. We treat a rating under 3 stars as a caution, however few reviews it rests on, and every report says how many reviews each rating comes from.
What does Truth Signal check?
A growing set of public checks on every business, among them company details, domain registration, website details, customer reviews, visitor traffic, web history and authority, social presence, malware and phishing, data breach history, domain and email security. The truth score is the average of six plain questions answered from that evidence, out of 100; from 70 it reads High. Every reason cites its source, and not found is never held against a business.