How to spot a fake online store
Updated · 6 minute read · By the IsSiteLegit team · How we write our guides
Fake online stores look more convincing every year. Many copy the photos, logos and even the reviews of real shops. The good news: they almost always give themselves away in the same few places. Spend two minutes on the checks below before you pay a shop you haven't used before.
The quick version
- Be very wary if the website address is only a few weeks or months old.
- Prices that are 70% or more below normal are the biggest single warning sign.
- Only pay with a credit card or a payment service that offers buyer protection. Never by bank transfer, crypto or gift cards.
- Look for a real address, a phone number and a returns policy — and check they make sense.
- When in doubt, run the address through IsSiteLegit and read the evidence.
1. The website is brand new
Fake shops rarely last long: they take payments for a few weeks, then disappear and reopen under a new name. So a web address that was registered recently is a strong warning sign, especially for a shop that claims to have been "in business since 1998". You can't see a site's age in your browser, but IsSiteLegit looks it up for you in the official domain registry and shows it in the evidence list as Domain age.
2. The prices are too good to be true
Real shops have sales, but they can't sell brand-name trainers, power tools or designer bags at 80–90% off and stay in business. Extreme discounts on everything, all the time, are how fake shops get people to stop thinking and pay quickly.
3. Pressure to buy right now
Countdown timers, "only 2 left!", and "23 people are looking at this" pop-ups are designed to rush you. Some real shops use them too, but combined with other warning signs they are a reason to slow down, not speed up.
4. Strange ways to pay
This is the most important check. If the shop only accepts bank transfer, cryptocurrency, gift cards or money-transfer apps, don't buy. Those payments are very hard to get back. A credit card (and, in many countries, PayPal's buyer protection) lets you ask for your money back if the goods never arrive. Some fake shops show card logos but then say the card payment "failed" and ask for a bank transfer instead — stop at that point.
5. No real way to contact them
A trustworthy shop tells you who they are: a company name, a street address, a phone number and an email address on its own website name (not only a free Gmail or Outlook address). Check that the details match each other — for example, a UK phone number, an address in another country and a company name that's different on every page are all warning signs. Searching the street address in a map app sometimes shows a house or an empty field.
6. Missing or copied policies
Look for a returns or refund policy, terms and conditions and a privacy policy. Fake stores often have none, or have pages copied from another shop that still mention the other shop's name. Left-over template text like "Lorem ipsum" or "Your Store Name" is a giveaway.
7. A look-alike name
Some fake shops pretend to be a famous brand using names like nike-outlet-sale.shop or amaz0n-deals.com. Read the
address carefully: the real brand's site is almost always the plain brand name with a common ending. Our guide on
checking a link before you click explains how to read a web address.
8. Reviews only on the shop's own site
Reviews on the shop's own pages are easy to fake. Search for the shop's name plus "reviews" or "scam" and see what other people say on independent sites and forums. No reviews at all is not proof of a scam (new honest shops exist), but a pile of complaints about orders never arriving is a clear signal.
9. You found it through a social media advert
Many fake shops are advertised on social media, often selling a "closing down sale" or one viral product. An advert is not a recommendation: the platforms don't check the shop. Apply all the checks above.
10. Something feels off
Spelling mistakes, blurry logos, product photos that don't match the description, and delivery times of "15–30 business days" for something a local shop has in stock are all worth noticing. Trust that feeling and check further.
Check the shop with IsSiteLegit
Enter the shop's address on IsSiteLegit. In about 20 seconds we look up the domain age, security blacklists, look-alike brand names, the security certificate, and the shop's own pages (contact details, policies, payment methods, discounts and pressure tactics), and show every piece of evidence. Our verdict is an automated assessment, not a guarantee — here's exactly how it works.
Already paid a shop you now don't trust? Read what to do if you paid a scam website.