Recognising a fake shopping site just got easier!

The use of online platforms for a lot of operations in the world today has brought with it some unavoidable disadvantages also. Fraud peculiar to online platforms has been on the rise lately. These frauds are performed in different modes. 

There are different ways by which you can recognize a fake shopping site to scam you. Below are some of these ways;

Always double check

It doesn’t cost you so much to double-check a site before patronising it. However, it would cost a lot more if you fall victim to it. The good thing about this is that you can easily double-check an online shopping site’s authenticity on the supposed site. Visit the homepage and be very mindful of the little details on it. Are there spelling errors? Are there grammar errors? An authentic site would go to lengths to avoid things such as these. 

You should also check for the contact details on the page. A website with a section for contact details ought to ring a bell in your head. For the sites with contact details, you could go the extra mile to ensure that these details are valid. 

Also, it doesn’t hurt to check out what customers are saying about the site on review platforms. This will help to reassure and retain your confidence in the company. 

Check out their policies

Online shopping refunds policies are one of the barest minimum expectations of a shopping website. It should also have its shipping policy clearly stated. If you get the delivery of a bad good, where would they have you return it and how?

Asides from this, the terms and conditions governing operations on the site should be on the website with its privacy policy in cases of a data breach. As expected, a fake website would not go to such length for its plan. Hence, your suspicions are in order in such cases. 

Unusual payment methods

Considering the aim of these fake websites is mostly to scam an individual of his money, you should be very mindful of the payment operations required of all online shopping sites.

Standard shopping sites would require you to make payments through card options such as credit cards or debit cards, the use of payment platforms such as PayPal is also uncommon. 

However any website asking you for payment options such as direct transfers, money orders and other insecure means of payment, it is best for you to avoid such websites. This advice is valid even when other features of the website do not look unsuspicious. This is possible because some of these scammers are quite highly exposed and as such, they have found a way to avoid other possible exposure asides from this. 

In all, you should be very proactive about being sure of a website before performing a transaction on it. It is not easy to regain lost funds as much as it is easier to prevent it. This is why tons of information is everywhere on how to prevent such occurrences.