Online shopping websites have definitely eased our shopping experience by saving a lot of our time and energy. But, one major drawback of this facility that has sprung up these days is the prevailing of fake online shopping websites. Since setting up an online business is an easy and quick job which takes hardly 10-15 minutes, the fraudulent websites are springing into picture rapidly. Such a malpractice is known as phishing. With the help of this malpractice, frauds try to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details from customers by disguising as a trustworthy entity. Therefore, the question that arises is how to spot such fake online shopping websites?
Do not worry, we are here to tell you 6 Ways to spot a fake online shopping website. These ways will help you in detecting fake websites and will save you from getting your personal information leaked.
These 6 Ways will help you in identifying fake online shopping websites
1Unreal heavy discounts and lower product prices
The first and foremost thing that will catch your eye is the unreal heavy discounts and lower product prices flashing on these websites. Certainly, some retailers do offer great discounts but they never offer a product at an unreal discount rate. A retailer would never sell any of his/her product at a rate which is unbelievably lower than even its buying price. So, beware of such fake sites which sell products at such unbelievable pricings. Always, compare the rates at at least 4-5 sites before deciding buy any product online.
2Numerous spelling and grammatical errors
A well-reputed e-commerce website will always take care of its content before publishing it online. The content always goes through a proofread stage and only after correcting its grammatical errors & spelling mistakes it gets published. So, if you spot an e-commerce website full of red flags – poor grammar and spellings, then you should immediately understand that the site is not a real one.
3Bad or no reviews
In order to check whether a site is an authentic or a phishing one, the best way is to check the independent reviews on it. An authentic online shopping website would contain genuine reviews from its buyers about their buying experience and about the product. So, if you see bad or no reviews at all on the online shopping website from which you are about to buy, better be on your guard.
4Incorrect URL
Another important thing a buyer needs to be alert about is the URL of the page. A phishing or a fraudulent website must be containing an incorrect or an invalid URL. For instance, a fake website would contain “http” instead of “https” at the beginning of the URL.
5No Physical Contact Address
A real online retailing business would have a genuine postal address provided on its contact page. So, if there’s no mention of physical contact address or a postal address, be very cautious of that site.
6No refund policy and unfavorable terms & conditions
The refund or exchange policy has been introduced in the e-commerce industry to keep the customers happy. If the customers face any defect or fault in the goods, they must be able to claim its refund or at least claim an exchange. So, if you see any of this missing on an online shopping website, then its definitely not in line with the customer satisfaction policy.
Some of the fake websites we spotted are –
https://www.tradesk.in/
https://www.shoptroom.com/contact/
https://www.freecout.in
