How to Use Search Engines to Spot Scams

Since their invention in the early 90s, search engines have proven to be an invaluable tool for finding information in the vastness of the internet. With the World Wide Web growing immensely with each passing day, search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and DuckDuckGo and others have become indispensable tools to discover a treasure trove of information.

The growth of the internet brings with it the growth of online scams. If you know how to use them properly, search engines can also become your best tool to prevent being scammed online. Read on to know how search engines can help you stay away from scammers.

Avoiding Scams Using Search Engines

By spending just a few minutes on the search engine of your choice, it is possible to find out a wealth of information to gauge whether a website is legitimate. You can also use them to check whether a person is real or fake by cross-checking information from social media profiles.

There are various things you can check, such as the text, images, company information, reviews and more that will give you a fair idea of whether you can trust the company. 

Checking the Text

This is probably the easiest check you can perform. We have written previously about Chinese shopping scam networks such as the Uniqueness Scam Network using the same text across thousands of websites.

All you have to do is copy a small snippet of text from the website, preferably the About Us page, and paste it into the search engine. Make sure the text does not contain anything unique such as a company name. If you put the snippet within quotation marks (“copied text”), then the search engine will try to find all websites that contain the exact content. 

If you see that several sites contain identical text, there is a high possibility that all the websites are being operated by scammers.

Checking the Images

Search engines have become sophisticated enough that you can now use them to search for not just text, but images too. Scammers often include images of people to represent team members or customers who don’t really exist. They may also steal images of expensive and one-of-a-kind products, and use them to bait-and-switch shoppers.

It is easy to expose the scammers’ lies by checking if an image is unique, or whether it has been copied from external sources. Take the example of a fake testimonial below:

Checking the Prices

One of the most common ways that consumers fall for scams is by failing to check the actual prices of products. Scammers often advertise products at prices well below the retail price offered by any competitor. This is almost always the sign of a scam, as it is unrealistic to expect that a new and unknown store can provide products at considerably lower prices than large competitors.

While we have seen ridiculous examples where products worth thousands of dollars are advertised for less than $100 - check our ‘TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE’ series on social media - below is a less obvious example where a sports watch available for $199 at legitimate stores is being sold for just $186 by a new and unheard-of website. There is a fair chance that customers will receive counterfeits.

Checking the Company Information

Scammers use various tricks to make their website appear legitimate, one of which is to include fake company information. In most cases, the company simply does not exist or has no relation to the website.

You can cross-check the company information given on the website, such as the company name and registration number. There are several public databases online that contain information about registered companies for each country. If the company information provided on the website cannot be found in public records or if there are differences in the stated information, it might mean that the company information provided is fake.

Note: Several scammers provide a UK company registration certificate as proof that their company is legitimate. However, anyone can register a company in the UK from anywhere in the world by simply paying £12 and waiting 24 hours. Therefore, take such proof with a grain of salt and look for other proof of legitimacy. Even checking the full company information on the Companies House website can reveal suspicious things about the company. Further, any company offering financial services must be registered with the appropriate financial regulation authority such as the SEC (USA) or FCA (UK).

Checking the Contact Details

Apart from using the same text, scammers also often use the same contact information across different websites. You can copy any of the information such as an email ID or phone number and paste it into a search engine.

You might be surprised to find that, for example, there are several websites using that same email ID, or that the phone number was used on another website that has been flagged as a scam. 

Checking Reviews

Notwithstanding the fact that scammers are known to leave fake reviews for their business to give the impression that they are running a legitimate operation, reviews are usually the best way to know whether a company is trustworthy. 

While you can check sites like ScamAdviser and TrustPilot directly to read reviews written by real customers or clients, people don’t always write reviews on review platforms. You might sometimes find revealing information on discussion platforms such as Reddit, Quora and independent message boards. Using a search query such as ‘[website name] review’ can bring up discussions where people have written about their positive or negative experiences with the company. 

The ScamAdviser algorithm analyzes dozens of data points to determine the likelihood of a website being a scam. Yet, we always urge consumers to do their own research because human intelligence is far superior to artificial intelligence. Search engines can be your best friend to avoid getting scammed if you follow the tips given in this article to do your own digging regarding the trustworthiness of a company.