How can you determine if an app, website, or any online platform is legitimate or a scam before you submit in any financial transaction or expose confidential information? And what you can do if you already expose yourself to bad online actors?
You once been scammed, and you don’t want be scammed again, right? You’re not alone. We all been scammed in one way or the other.
Scammers hides and lives in a hardly reachable location using a very sophisticated software to veil their identity, they use websites, apps or any online platform to take money from innocent web users.
To scammers out there, where ever cave you came from, you must desist from scamming activities otherwise once you caught, you’ll have your self to be blamed!
We learned that con men mastered how to use your fear and greed against you. Before they operated offline, now they are online using websites, apps or existing online platforms that may seem to be true, but were scam.
Guess what?
We have got you covered with indicators that could help you be alerted of scammer invasive tricks, so you don’t fall victim of scam. Before adding any financial details to a website or app, make sure you confirm the legitimacy of the website or app with the following indicators:
Reviews about the website or app. Use any search engine available in your country, search the “[domain name] review” with double quotation (e.g.” wikipedia.org review”), check users or customers reviews on the website or app online platfom . Read althroogh at least 10 top results. Don’t skim through!
Check platform domain name profile. Check the website domain name’s profile whether or not it complies with what the website claimed. Illecit websites claimed something they weren’t. Here are some of the key things to check on website’s profile to determine if app or website legit. Login to who.is, and check the profile of the platform:
Website: When a platform exists only as app or software without official website, should indicate the platform is a scam. The question is where are the app or software data hosted in without a website hosting? This indicates such app or software had a hidden website, which make it more suspicious.
Registrant: Supposed the website or app has a website, If noticed the website appear with a registrant name, the website legit. If the registrant is made private showing “Registration private”, indicates illegit.
Contact page: A legit website, app or any online platform should have at least all 5 top-tier pages about, contact, home, terms of use and private policy pages, most importantly, the contact page, where users can communicate, complain with the administrator. The website or app missing any top-teir pages indicates illegit.
Date: Domain name registration date is essential to identifying legit from illegit website, app or online platform. Before adding your cards or disclosing your confidential information, be sure to check the its domain registration date. Any domain registration dated below 5 years of operation should be deemed untrustworthy.
SSL: SSL certificate indicates if a website is secured or not. To know if a website has SSL certificate or not, use Chrome browser, type in the website URL, and check if the URL has https or just http. URL with https and a pad lock besides it, indicates the website is secured with SSL certificate. If the website URL appears with http and a danger sign, indicates the website is not secured with SSL certificate, not trustworthy.
Regulated by country’s intitution: A website, app or online platform, especially, when dealing with money and finance should be regulated by government. Otherwise, indicates the website, app or platform is unregistered and not overseen by the government, which is a sign of illegitinate.
Charateristics of scammers when using illegit websites, apps or online platform
Scammer may appear classy with suits and skirt, and well spoken. But if he, she or they exhibit the following characteristics, should indicate scam:
Fake Deposit
An illegit websites are controlled by group of scammers working together to scam people from their money, and share between themselves the profit they made.
One scammer among the scammers may act as an ordinary user of the website or app, which they all build to scam, in order to persuade innocent users with sweat words and proof of deposit in display of the platform legitimacy, but are all in that together.
What they say or do may seem to be true that they deposited money but, the fact that they owned the platform, shouldn’t be reason for your trust. They have nothing to lose when one of the scammers deposited money into the platform as the money will land directly into their account, but when you send money to the same account, which the platform provided, it lands on their account NOT your account, and you lose money. Don’t be persuaded by false proof and sweat talk!
Scammers promise big Money using your greed against you
Investment is a vehicle to financial freedom. It goes gradual, if you want to speed up your earning, you’ve to increase in your investment portfolio. No quick route to financial freedom. Scammers uses people’s greed against themselves. Don’t be enticed by the massive promise of high gain/dividend in a short time.
Scammers use Urgency
In the website or app you’ll encounter one member (Scammer) using sense of urgency to persuade users to send money, without having second thoughts. Once a member of a website or app promote seemly incredible investment with sense of urgency, you should runaway with your money! A wise man once said, “Greed +Urgency=Stupidity.”
Scammers use website with sub-domain name, strange TLD or attached name to a well known brand websites
Scammers are fond of adding sub-domain names, strange top-level domains (TLDs) or attached name to a well-known brand website to attract naive people. Next time you see an investment platform named as investo.aljezeerah.com, or Facebook.invest or googlemoneyinvestment.com, you should run away with your money. People they are scammers!
Is my financial details at risk after being submitted to Illegit website | App?
In a situation where you naively added your financial details into scammer website, app or platform, you should know that very account is NO MORE safe. Your financial details is at the wrong hand.
Since you can’t retrieve nor delete your information from the scammer’s database, You should avoid using the account for any transaction to ensure your financial safety. But if still had interest with the account, contact your financial institution to have the account details changed. Best have the account deleted.
