How to check a shop in two minutes
Look for the information a real business must publish: a company name, a registration number where the country requires one, a physical address and a working contact method. A contact form alone, on a site selling branded goods at a deep discount, is a warning in itself.
Then check the domain's age with a public registration lookup. A store selling a wide catalogue on a domain registered three weeks ago is almost always fraudulent, however polished it looks.
- Company name, registration number and physical address published
- Domain registered recently relative to the size of the catalogue
- Prices far below every legitimate retailer
- Return and refund policy vague, copied or absent
- Payment only by bank transfer, cryptocurrency or gift card
Payment methods and the protection they give
Credit and debit cards give you chargeback rights through the card scheme, and payment intermediaries with buyer protection add a dispute process. Both give you a route to your money if goods never arrive or are counterfeit.
Bank transfers, cryptocurrency and gift cards provide no such route, which is exactly why fraudulent sellers request them. A discount offered for paying 'directly' is not a discount; it is the removal of your protection.
Fake reviews and social-media adverts
Reviews are manipulated on a large scale. Be suspicious of clusters of five-star reviews posted within days, identical phrasing, reviewers with no other history, and pages where every negative review concerns delivery rather than the product.
A large share of fake shops now arrive entirely through social advertising, often using stolen product photography and a countdown timer. Search the brand name plus 'reviews' outside the platform before buying from any store you first saw in an advert.
- Bursts of identical positive reviews in a short period
- Product photographs reused from other retailers
- Countdown timers and permanent 'final hours' sales
- No independent discussion of the brand anywhere else
Protecting your account details
Use a unique password for each shopping account and enable two-factor authentication where offered; retail accounts hold addresses, order history and sometimes stored cards. Where your bank or card provider offers virtual card numbers, use them for unfamiliar merchants and set a low limit.
Decline the option to store a card at checkout on sites you use rarely, and avoid creating an account at all when guest checkout is available for a one-off purchase.
When an order does not arrive
Contact the seller once in writing and set a clear deadline. If there is no adequate response, open a dispute with your card issuer or the payment provider, supplying the order confirmation, the payment record and your correspondence.
Check the time limits, which are often measured in weeks rather than months, and report the shop to your national consumer protection body and to the platform that hosted the advert. Also watch for a follow-up message offering a refund in exchange for card details, which is a second scam aimed at the same victim.
- Write to the seller once with a deadline
- Open a card chargeback or payment-provider dispute promptly
- Keep order confirmations, payment records and screenshots
- Report the shop to consumer protection and the ad platform
- Ignore unsolicited 'refund' messages requesting card details
Seasonal peaks and delivery scams
Fraud rises sharply around sales events and the festive season, when people are expecting multiple parcels and are less likely to question a delivery message. That expectation is the resource the scam depends on.
During busy periods, track orders only through the retailer's own app or website, treat every delivery-fee message as fraudulent, and keep a short list of what you have actually ordered so an unexpected notification stands out.