Guide · Updated 2026-10-19 · By the PayOrScam team
How to tell if a website is a scam before you pay
Websites and apps were the most common way people who lost money were first contacted in 2025, followed closely by social media, according to the FTC. Shopping scams were the most-reported scam on social media, and many ads led to unfamiliar websites or sites impersonating well-known brands. Run these checks before you enter card details.
Type the address yourself. Look closely at the spelling. Lookalike domains add a word ("-outlet", "-official") or swap letters.
Check the domain's age at ICANN Lookup. A shop claiming years of trading on a domain created last month is a serious warning sign.
Check its safe-browsing status with Google's Safe Browsing site status tool.
Search the name and web address with "scam", "review" or "complaint", and read independent reviews, not only the ones on the site itself.
Look for a real business behind it: a company name and registration number you can find on the official register, a physical address and a working phone number.
Reverse-image search the product photos. Photos copied from other shops or manufacturers suggest the goods may never ship.
Be wary of prices far below everyone else's, countdown timers and "only 2 left" pressure.
Pay by credit card. Be very careful if the site pushes you to pay by bank transfer, gift card, crypto or a payment app, since those are hard to reverse.
PayOrScam runs the domain, register, reputation and image checks for any link you paste and shows the source for each finding. No check can rule out every risk, so trust your judgement on anything that still feels wrong.