Online shopping offers incredible convenience, but it also provides opportunities for scammers. Fake e-commerce sites cost consumers billions of dollars annually. Here are 10 critical red flags to watch for before making any online purchase.
1. Unrealistic Discounts
If a site is offering luxury goods at 80-90% off retail prices, it's almost certainly a scam. Legitimate retailers rarely offer such extreme discounts, even during major sales events. A "too good to be true" price is the most common bait used by fraudulent stores.
2. Poor Website Design and Content
Professional businesses invest in their online presence. Warning signs include:
- Blurry or stolen product images
- Broken links and missing pages
- Inconsistent formatting
- Generic or copied product descriptions
3. Missing or Fake Contact Information
Try the contact information before you buy. Scam sites often list:
- Generic email addresses (gmail, yahoo)
- Non-working phone numbers
- Addresses that lead to vacant lots or unrelated businesses
- No physical address at all
4. Suspicious Payment Requirements
Be extremely cautious if a site:
- Only accepts wire transfers, gift cards, or cryptocurrency
- Doesn't accept PayPal or major credit cards
- Asks you to send payment through unusual methods
5. No Clear Return Policy
Legitimate retailers have transparent return and refund policies. If you can't find this information, or if the policy seems vague or unreasonable, proceed with caution.
6. Pressure Tactics
Scammers create urgency to prevent you from thinking critically:
- "Only 2 items left!"
- "Sale ends in 5 minutes!"
- "50 people are viewing this right now!"
7. No Social Media Presence
Check for the company on social media platforms. Legitimate businesses typically have active accounts with real customer interactions. Be wary if social links lead to dead pages or accounts with no real engagement.
8. Recently Created Domain
Most scam shopping sites are brand new. Use a WHOIS lookup to check when the domain was registered. A site selling products but only registered a few weeks ago is highly suspicious.
9. Copied Content and Policies
Scammers often copy legal pages (Terms of Service, Privacy Policy) from legitimate sites. Search for unique phrases from these pages—if they appear on multiple unrelated sites, it's a red flag.
10. No Customer Reviews or Only Positive Ones
Look for independent reviews outside the website. A complete absence of reviews for an established-looking store is suspicious. Similarly, having only perfect 5-star reviews with generic comments suggests they may be fake.
Protect Yourself
Before shopping on any new site, run it through our trust checker. We aggregate data from multiple sources to give you an accurate picture of whether a site can be trusted with your money and personal information.