E-commerce• 4 min read
Online Store Scam Checker: 6 Tests Before You Pay
Fake stores spin up in hours, harvest cards for weeks, and disappear. These six checks catch nearly all of them.
1. WHOIS age
Less than 6 months old + heavy discount = scam.
2. EFT only, no card / no PayPal
Real merchants take cards because chargebacks build trust.
3. Reverse image of product photos
Stolen from AliExpress 9 times out of 10.
4. Identical 5-star reviews
Same phrasing across products = bought reviews.
5. No physical address or fake one
Map the address. If it's a parking lot, leave.
6. Contact via WhatsApp only
No email, no phone, no returns policy — no purchase.
The bottom line
Drop the store URL into ScamGuard on WhatsApp for a domain + reputation report before you check out.