How To Identify Fake Websites

The internet can often be a dangerous place. With cyberattacks and email scams on the rise, users are becoming more and more cautious when doing their online shopping, internet banking and other finance-related activities.

A significant issue that web users face is fraudulent websites making their URLs look legitimate by creating lookalike sites. These scam websites often look virtually identical to the sites they’re trying to imitate, which can result in unsuspecting people getting tricked into handing over their details.

For example, a scammer might create a site with ‘l1oydsbank.com’ as its URL, when in actual fact this is a counterfeit version of the real ‘lloydsbank.com’.

The good news is that Google is developing a tool to prevent Chrome browser users from being deceived by these lookalike sites. Currently in its early stages, the new Chrome feature will alert users before they enter sites with misspelled URLs. This will hopefully help to prevent unwanted phishing attacks and personal information getting into the wrong hands.

Tips to Help You Spot a Fake URL:

• Only enter sensitive information such as credit card details on a website that starts with ‘https’ as the ‘s’ indicates that the site is secure.

• Keep an eye out out for numbers replacing letters (e.g. 5 instead of s), accents (e.g. á) and incorrect additional letters (e.g. paypall.com instead of paypal.com) when looking at the web address.

• Be aware of sites with spelling and grammar mistakes, any unusual payment method options (such as a random PayPal address) or no contact information such as phone number or email address, as they are probably fraudulent.

• If the offer on an website is too good to be true, then it most probably is!

How ICT Solutions Can Help

Google has not provided a date for the full release of this tool, but there are many other ways to protect yourself from fraudulent websites and other criminal cyber activities.

Here at ICT Solutions, we offer bespoke cyber security services to address businesses’ individual needs. From anti-spam software to disaster recovery plans, we make use of a variety of security measures to help protect your business from sophisticated threats.

Find out more about our cyber security services and the support we can offer your business page by contacting us today.