Protect yourself
Five examples you can stand and look at, and a quiz at the end. You do not need ScamZam to use them, and that is the point: the best defence is knowing what to look for yourself.
eu-outlet-sale.shop/summer-dress-turquoise
EU OUTLET
WomenMenSaleNew in
Basket (1)
Your basket is reserved for 04:59. Complete your purchase now, or the item is released to other customers.
Summer dress, turquoise
★★★★★ 412 reviews, all 5 stars
€26.90 €215.00
Only 3 left in stock. We ship from our warehouse the same day you place your order.
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- The basket is not reserved. No shop holds an item back for five minutes. Reload the page: if the clock starts over, the deadline does not exist.
- 412 reviews, every one of them five stars. Look for the three star ones. If there are none at all, none of them are real.
- 88 percent off. Look the item up somewhere else. If it is only cheap here, there is a reason.
- None of the payment methods can be reversed. The clearest single sign there is. With a card you have a right to dispute, with a bank transfer you have almost none.
- Nobody who can be held responsible. No company name, no address, no VAT number. It says "About us", but not who "us" is.
Each one on its own could be innocent
A new shop is allowed a good offer. Five of the signs on the same page is something else, and the payment methods alone would be enough to walk away.
Messages · Parcel delivery
14:03●●●●
Parcel delivery
Your parcel is on its way and will be delivered tomorrow between 12 and 4.
Yesterday 09:12
Your parcel could not be delivered because the address is missing a house number. Pay the €3.90 fee within 24 hours, or the parcel will be returned.
https://parcel-delivery-track.info/trace Today 14:03
https://parcel-delivery-track.info/trace Today 14:03
The bottom one is fake. Four things give it away
- The sender name means nothing. It can be set to anything, including so the message lands in the same thread as the real ones. That is why the two sit right under each other here.
- The small amount is chosen with care. It is set low enough that you cannot be bothered to think about it. The money is not the point either. The card details are.
- The real domain is the one just before the last dot. Not the carrier's name at the start. Always read from the right.
- Carriers do not charge you by text message. If you owe duty or a fee, it is on your order or in the carrier's own app.
The habit that works every time
Never press the link in the message. Open the carrier's own app or site yourself, and look the parcel up there. If the message is real, it is there too. It costs you ten seconds.
Incoming call
10:41●●●●
Incoming call
+00 33 44 00 00
✕
☎
"We have seen suspicious withdrawals on your account. To secure your money you need to move it to a safety account. Stay on the line, and approve it in your banking app."
Four things in one call- The number proves nothing. Making your bank's real number appear on the display is trivial.
- "Move your money" does not exist. There is no safety account. Your bank moves money internally itself if it needs to.
- "Stay on the line" is the method. You have to be prevented from hanging up and calling back yourself. That is why it is urgent, and why you must not tell anyone.
- You only approve something you started yourself. Right now, and where you can see what it is. Never at somebody's request over the phone.
The one rule that covers all of it
Your bank, the police and your banking app never ask you to move money, give out codes or approve anything to "secure" your account. Hang up, and call back yourself on the number on the back of your card. Apologise afterwards if it was genuine. It does no harm.
Four lookups, all free
Roughly what ScamZam does, only by hand. It takes two minutes, and that is exactly why most of us do not do it when we are standing there with the item in the basket.
- How old is the domain? Look it up on who.is. If a shop selling for thousands was registered three weeks ago, that is worth stopping at.
- Does the company exist? If there is a company or VAT number, look it up in BRIS via e-Justice, which connects the business registers of every EU country. Check that the trade matches what they sell, and that the company was not set up last week.
- Does the address exist? Search for the address in the footer. If the shop is in a flat abroad, or at the same address as forty other webshops, you know something.
- Search the name plus "scam" If somebody was cheated before you, they have usually written about it. Search in the local language too, because the same shops run in several countries.
Reviews are the weakest source
They can be bought, and they are. Look for the three star reviews rather than the five star ones. If there are no lukewarm ones at all, none of them are real.
Do this now, in this order
First of all: it is not your fault. These setups are built by people who do it full time. Now it is about acting fast.
- Call your bank straight away Use the number on the back of the card. Block the card, and ask directly whether they can stop the payment. Hours matter here.
- Dispute the payment If you paid by card, you generally have the right to dispute it if the goods never arrive or are something else entirely. The bank has a form. Do it in writing.
- Save everything Screenshots, order confirmation, receipt, the address of the site and all correspondence. Even if the site is now gone.
- Report it Report it to the police in the country where you live. There is no European reporting channel for individuals, and Europol does not investigate single cases for private people. Even when your own case is not solved, it feeds the pattern that closes the site for the next person.
- Change the password If you created an account on the site with a password you use elsewhere, change it in those other places first.
And then the most important thing: beware of the help
Within days you will probably be contacted by someone offering to get your money back. They are called something with "recovery", they have reviews, and they want a fee up front.
It is the same scam, a second time. They buy lists of people who have just been cheated, precisely because you are desperate now. No serious operator contacts you out of the blue and asks for money to fetch money home. Your bank and the police are the only routes, and they charge nothing.
True or false?
Six statements. Answer first, then see why. No points, no account, nobody watching.
If there is a padlock in the address bar, the site is safe to buy from.
Correct. The padlock only means the connection is encrypted, that is, nobody can listen in on the way. It says nothing about who is at the other end. Certificates are free, and almost every scam site has a padlock today.
Not quite. The padlock only means the connection is encrypted, not that the recipient is honest. Certificates are free, and almost every scam site has a padlock today.
If the number on the display is your bank's real number, it is your bank calling.
Correct. The caller number can be set to anything, including your bank's or the police's. It is called spoofing, and it requires no special skill. Hang up, and call back yourself on the number on the back of your card.
Not quite. The caller number can be set to anything, including your bank's or the police's. Hang up, and call back yourself on the number on the back of your card.
In the address dhl.parcel-track.com the real domain is "dhl".
Correct. The real domain is parcel-track.com. Everything to the left of it the scammer can invent, including the word "dhl". Always read from the right: whatever sits just before the last dot.
Not quite. The real domain is parcel-track.com. Everything to the left of it the scammer can choose. Always read from the right.
Paying by bank transfer instead of card leaves you just as well off.
Correct. With a card you can dispute the payment if the goods never arrive. With a bank transfer you have almost no protection, and the money is usually gone. That is why fake shops prefer transfer, crypto or gift cards.
Not quite. With a card you can dispute the payment. With a bank transfer you have almost no protection, and that is exactly why fake shops prefer it.
A website with many five star reviews is a good sign.
Correct. Not in itself. Reviews can be bought, and they are. What matters is whether lukewarm reviews exist: a real shop always has some three star ones. If there are none at all, none of them are real.
Not quite. Reviews can be bought. Look for the three star ones instead. If there are no lukewarm ones at all, none of them are real.
If you have been cheated and a company offers to recover your money for a fee, it is worth a try.
Correct. It is the same scam, a second time. They buy lists of people who have just been cheated, precisely because they are desperate. No serious operator contacts you out of the blue and asks for money to fetch money home. Your bank and the police are the only routes.
Not quite. It is the same scam, a second time. They buy lists of people who have just been cheated. Your bank and the police are the only routes, and they charge nothing.
Or let ScamZam do the four lookups for you
It looks up the domain's age, the VAT number, the blocklists and the letters in the address in under ten seconds, and explains what it found.