7 Ways Your Shop Might Look Like a Fake Website

Fake, fraudulent, and counterfeit websites pop up around this time of year by the boatload. That is the unfortunate reality.

As we get closer to Christmas and the holiday sales season, criminals and con artists pump out these websites hoping to take advantage of holiday shoppers looking for great Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals (and in recent years, Singles' Day, too!).

As a shopper, it’s something to be wary of, so you should know some of the tell-tale signs of a fake shop. However, as a legitimate business owner, you’ll want to avoid some of these things for your own websites because shoppers might be on the lookout for some of these "clues". Let’s have a look at some of the red flags shoppers should be looking out for.

1. If it’s too good to be true…

You know what they say: if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. This first tip is for the shoppers out there (hey, we're all shoppers sometimes!), but shop owners can learn something here, too.

We’ve all probably learned this lesson at some point, but even clever people can get outsmarted on a bad day. Here's a short anecdote:

A family member of mine (who is a bit older), saw a pop-up ad once for an offer:
5 iPhones for 100 dollars!

Sure, overstocking and inventory clearances can really benefit shoppers sometimes, but that deal was just way too good to be true.

Luckily, when he went to tell his spouse about that great deal, she quickly knocked some sense into him by reminding him that "No one has trouble selling iPhones. There's no way that offer is real.We all have those moments, and during the holidays, we all hope that we stumble upon the deal of the century. Luckily, he immediately cancelled his credit card and the problem was solved. However, things could have gone much worse for him had his wife not given him a reality check.

So, yes, my first bit of advice is basically to go with your gut, especially if you think something looks shady. Don’t let your penny-pinching brain get the best of you.

So, how does this tip help legit shop owners look more trustworthy?

There's a lesson in pricing for you here: Be aware that overly discounting your products might have the opposite effect that you intend. Users might think it's fake or counterfeit. They might assume your entire website is a scam.

There are no free lunches!
(Source: shutterstock/Robert Plociennik)

If you do have an unbelievable sale to share with your customers, try sending out an email to your newsletter followers. Announce it on your social media channels. You might even want to consider giving them a reason for this big discount (e.g. we're clearing inventory for next year's model).

2. Inappropriate or missing contact info

This one is usually a dead giveaway that something isn’t right with a shop. If the email address doesn’t seem professional, you might want to avoid the website altogether. A proper website will have its domain in its email address and won’t be using Hotmail or Yahoo for its primary contact details.

The same goes for missing contact info altogether. If you're a real company, your contact info should at the very least be linked in your footer.

Ideally, one should be able to find contact information (e.g. your phone number) throughout your online shop quite easily. However, if you're looking to make a really great impression, you should also strongly consider building an About Us page. This can definitely be a trust-builder.

3. Poor English

Many fake websites are based outside of English-speaking countries, so reading their website carefully is advised.

The design might look great, but having multiple mistakes on a website might be a sign that their main goal is to rip you off. A successful global brand won’t mind spending a bit of money on a good translator because localising your site for international markets is important.

Remember those "Nigerian prince" email scams that were popular a few years back? They were often riddled with spelling errors. Many people thought the spelling mistakes in these were accidental and that this was how you could spot the scam.

This is only half true.

In fact, the spelling errors were on purpose. They were used by the scammers as a filtering system. The logic was that those who replied were "less educated" and more likely to be the perfect target.

Mind you, a mistake here or there is bound to happen, but you'll really want to keep them to a minimum. Invest in a professional proofreader/translator if you're not a native speaker.

4. Long Domain names

Most big brands will have a simple website address (e.g. Nike.com).

If there are extra words added to the address, this could be a sign that this website is fraudulent. Words like “discount”, “warehouse”, and “deals” in a domain name are definitely red flags.

Source: Shutterstock/wernimages

For example, Nike doesn’t have a website called “nikedeals.com”, so you should probably curb your enthusiasm when you see sneakers there for 80% off.

If you're a website owner, you should avoid associating your company with only one particular brand. Of course, there is nothing wrong with trying to rank for specific keywords (or "key brands"), but the name of your shop should be something unique.

5. Reviews

Reviews are today’s form of word-of-mouth advertising. People love to share their shopping experiences and if a company is proud of their service, they’ll be proud to display their customer reviews as well. Make sure your reviews are connected to your shop. With Google Ads, for example, you can add star ratings to your ads if you work with a Google-certified reviews provider (like Trusted Shops).

There is one thing that may be worse than having no reviews: Having only great reviews on your website.

Sure, you may not want to highlight your bad reviews, but hiding them seems insincere and shoppers may be more sceptical of your shop if they don't see any. The key, as a shop owner, is responding to those negative reviews directly.

Want to learn more about how to respond to negative reviews? Check our whitepaper by clicking below!

6. Return Policies

You might not be one to read the fine print when shopping online (let's be honest; many of us aren't), but if you’re on the fence about shopping on a specific site, check their return policies.

Besides possibly finding grammatical errors, the policies themselves might be vague, unclear or even non-existent.

Consumer tip: If you can’t find that section or if you don’t understand any part of the return policy, try emailing them to get an answer. If the answer is also unclear or vague, it would probably be best to avoid this shop entirely.

Shop owners should really avoid this altogether by having all required documents easily accessible on their website.

Recommended reading:
How to Deal with Serial Returners and Reduce Your Shop's Return Rate

7. Payment Methods

Be careful if a website doesn’t accept credit or debit cards. Credit card companies have entire departments dedicated to fraudulent companies and work with their customers to get their money back.

However, if the shop requires payments in the form of money orders or wire transfers, this is a lot harder to get your money back if you discover that you’ve been a fraud victim.

Shop owners: you need to get with the times. Having the right payment options is essential to having great conversion rates. PayPal is pretty popular everywhere, as are most major credit cards. Most international markets have one other preferential payment option, so if you sell in multiple markets, do your research for each one.

Bonus Tips:

Here are a few extra tips we thought you might find useful.

Your website hasn't been live for long

If a shopper is unsure of whether your website is trustworthy or not, some of them will try to find out when your website went live. A simple Google search with date filters can help them figure this out.

That is great advice for online shoppers, but as a trustworthy shop owner, what can you do besides travelling back in time?

Make sure you are transparent. If you're a brand new shop, mention it on your About Us page. Remember, storytelling can help humanise your business, so tell your business's story, even if you came up with the idea relatively recently.

This site did not show up in the results when the search was filtered for results in 2022. There's a high probability this website is not connected with Nike in any official way.
(Source: Google)

You don't have any online certifications

A lot of the biggest companies use 3^rd party certifications to give them credibility as a trustworthy and reliable company. Plenty of smaller businesses do the same as a way to earn trust and credibility for new customers.

Trusted Shops has been verifying companies for over 20 years and is Europe’s most well-known e-commerce trustmark. With the Trusted Shops Trustmark, coupled together with the 30-day Buyer Protection and customer reviews, building trust with new customers has never been easier.

Learn more about Trusted Shops products with our product overview:

Conclusion

Be careful when shopping online, especially during the holiday season. Shoppers are always trying to find the holy grail of too-good-to-be-true deals.

If you're a shopper, follow the tips above and you’ll most likely be able to avoid the scammers out there trying to take advantage of you. If you feel that you’ve been scammed, you can report fraudulent websites at ActionFraud.

If you're a seller out there, keep those tips above in mind. Having a professional, responsive website is invaluable, not only for aesthetics, but for SEO purposes and for building trust, which is never out of fashion.