Research & Reports

Our latest research related to the world of scams, including studies on scams from a global perspective, along with research aimed at the factors why consumers fall into scams.

Scamadviser analyzed 7 million domain names and discovered that 3% of all websites have a Trust Score lower than 20, meaning that they are (very)...
By:  Zarmeena Waseem, National Cyber Security Alliances        Mitchel Chang, Trend Micro Initiative for Education    It has been over a year since...
According to previous research, the number of online scams increased by 40% last year. For 2021 a similar growth rate is expected due to the Corona...
2020 was quite an unusual year for all of us. There was confusion and uncertainty all over the world due to the pandemic and society is slowly...
Summary of the 1st Global Online Scam Summit On the 12th of November 2020, the 1st Global Online Scam Summit (GOSS) was held. The goal of the...
Online scams, like cybercrime in general, are very difficult to combat. Not only are most scams not reported, the scammers themselves are rarely...
Scamadviser.com surveyed 1126 consumers from 128 countries asking them why they buy fakes and how they could be kept from buying counterfeit. While...
The good, the bad & the ugly More than 130,000 new domain names using Corona related terms like Covid, Sars-cov-2, and comparable names have been...
Internet usage is all-time high and with its significant advantages come considerable dangers. These dangers include online scams: Phishing, Business...
Well, amongst others, consumers only report 7% of all online frauds The scam season is approaching. While consumers are preparing to shop massively...
React, The Ecommerce Foundation and Scamadviser.com recently organized an interactive workshop about the Future of Brand Protection, as part of the...
Scamadviser.com in cooperation with REACT has analyzed over 65 million websites. Based on its data, it had identified a top 8 of hosting companies...

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As the influence of the internet rises, so does the prevalence of online scams. There are fraudsters making all kinds of claims to trap victims online - from fake investment opportunities to online stores - and the internet allows them to operate from any part of the world with anonymity. The ability to spot online scams is an important skill to have as the virtual world is increasingly becoming a part of every facet of our lives. The below tips will help you identify the signs which can indicate that a website could be a scam. Common Sense: Too Good To Be True When looking for goods online, a great deal can be very enticing. A Gucci bag or a new iPhone for half the price? Who wouldn’t want to grab such a deal? Scammers know this too and try to take advantage of the fact. If an online deal looks too good to be true, think twice and double-check things. The easiest way to do this is to simply check out the same product at competing websites (that you trust). If the difference in prices is huge, it might be better to double-check the rest of the website. Check Out the Social Media Links Social media is a core part of ecommerce businesses these days and consumers often expect online shops to have a social media presence. Scammers know this and often insert logos of social media sites on their websites. Scratching beneath the surface often reveals this fu

So the worst has come to pass - you realise you parted with your money too fast, and the site you used was a scam - what now? Well first of all, don’t despair!! If you think you have been scammed, the first port of call when having an issue is to simply ask for a refund. This is the first and easiest step to determine whether you are dealing with a genuine company or scammers. Sadly, getting your money back from a scammer is not as simple as just asking.  If you are indeed dealing with scammers, the procedure (and chance) of getting your money back varies depending on the payment method you used. PayPal Debit card/Credit card Bank transfer Wire transfer Google Pay Bitcoin PayPal If you used PayPal, you have a strong chance of getting your money back if you were scammed. On their website, you can file a dispute within 180 calendar days of your purchase. Conditions to file a dispute: The simplest situation is that you ordered from an online store and it has not arrived. In this case this is what PayPal states: "If your order never shows up and the seller can't provide proof of shipment or delivery, you'll get a full refund. It's that simple." The scammer has sent you a completely different item. For example, you ordered a PlayStation 4, but instead received only a Playstation controller.  The condition of the item was misrepresented on the product page. This could be the