How To Know If A Website Is Safe
Although the internet is a wonderful resource which helps you to find out a wealth of information, shop from home and check your finances, one of the biggest problems that it has created is the ability to scam people very easily. There are so many websites on the world wide web that knowing which ones you can trust isn’t always as easy as it seems. If you end up trusting the wrong site, you could end up becoming the victim of fraud. Here are some top tips to help you to determine whether the website that your visiting is trustworthy or not.
Check For Grammar And Spelling
If a web page contains numerous grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, the chances are that it has been written by someone who doesn’t care about quality, and that indicates an untrustworthy operator. If the website is supposed to be for a large company or organisation, these kinds of errors strongly indicate that it is a fake site and not a genuine one at all. Even if the colours and style of the site look identical to the original, if there is poor English, nonsensical text or random images which don’t fit the content, you can be fairly sure that you should shut the page down.
Check The Web Domain Owner
Every domain must register its URL or website address, so run a check on who has registered the site in question’s domain. You can do this for free by visiting a site like Whois.net and this will help you to determine if the site is genuine.
Check For Security
If you’re shopping online or sharing personal information, always ensure you’re using a secure connection so that no other web user can spy on your details and financial data. Before entering anything in a website, always check to see if there is https:// on the address bar and a locked padlock symbol. If it hasn’t, don’t enter any information.
Give The Company A Call
Any legitimate company will include its contact details and telephone number. If you’re in doubt, give them a call. If the number is answered professionally by a business, that’s probably a good indicator that the site is trustworthy however if it is a mobile number or there is no response even in office hours, this could be suspicious. You could also visit sites such as WhoCallsMe to find out who is using that telephone number.
Look For Evidence
If others have had difficulties with a scam or bad customer service, you’ll often find that details appear when searching online. Just enter the company’s name or website into your search engine and you should find lots of information about the site in question. There are many review sites like Trustpilot and Review Centre which share users’ experiences and which are worth a visit.
Stay Safe
If you’ve followed all these steps and still aren’t convinced the site you’re visiting is genuine, err on the side of caution. If you want to visit a particular website, type its URL direct into the browser instead of following a link and if you have any doubts at all never share any personal or financial information.
