Signs of a scam

[macooper]

Whenever I part with money at any website, the first thing I do is follow a simple checklist to see how well they do.

1) Does the site have a current SSL cert ?

2) Use www.whois.sc to check the whois information. Are the address details for the domain listed ?
3) In the domain contact details, is there a valid email address and is it from a free account (such as hotmail, gmail etc.) ?

4) Does the site display the owners contact details on the about page ? If so, do these details match the details listed in whois for the domain ?

5) Is there a valid phone number visible, and does it work ?

Now the SSL cert is an exception, in that if people use a 3rd party processor, it may not be required (such as 2checkout, paypal etc.). But the other details should tie up. In general, amyone that is trying to do ligitimate business on the web will go out of their way to try and make it clear that they are ligitimate. So if a site has not even done the bare basics to give customers enough confidence to buy they're products, then it is almost certainly some sort of scam.

[MisterB]

That is very useful information.

[gamesandmore]

Thanks for sharing this with us this is very interesting and will help many members work out if they are paying money to rouge traders or to who you think you are paying.

[dreamsync]

I like that list. Those are things I always check for. In addition to those I'll check for

6) Any BBB records the company may have
7) References to the product or web site on other web sites.

If I decide to purchase something I don't require all of those things to be present(new company may not have any information in a bbb record), but a number of them should be there and no major consistent red flags.

[bdude]

Well, I guess the way to tell is simply "if it's too good to be true, it isn't true" - also look for websites, phone numbers etc

[dojo]

Agreed .. we always need to understand how that business can function in order to give the owner results (no one runs an un-lucrative business) and see if it works .. many times a serious thought and looking for more info can save you a lot of money and keep you from a scam ...

[bdude]

Agreed, if you can't think of reason why would they be doing this, then there's something fishy