TechsuNews desk | November 11, 2026 | By Anamika Dey, editor
What This Article Covers
|
Knowing how to tell if an online store is fake starts before you type in your card number. Say you’re scrolling on your phone one evening and an ad shows the exact running shoes you’ve been eyeing, 70% off. The store looks fine. Clean photos, a countdown timer, a little padlock next to the address. You pay, the confirmation email arrives, and then nothing. No tracking link. No reply to your message. A week later the site won’t even load.
That story is made up, but it’s a very ordinary one. In the first half of 2026, Singapore police recorded 3,865 e-commerce scam cases, more than any other scam type and 19.3% up on the same period in 2025, with victims losing about S$8.3 million. That’s one country’s numbers, but fake shops don’t stop at borders.
Here’s the list I’d run through before paying any store I haven’t used before. Most of it takes a couple of minutes.
A padlock doesn’t mean what most people think
For years we were told to look for the padlock. It only answers a narrow question: is the connection encrypted? It doesn’t say who runs the site. The FTC puts it plainly: the “s” in https means the site is encrypted, but that doesn’t mean it’s legitimate, and scammers know how to encrypt sites too. Design isn’t proof either. Canada’s Get Cyber Safe programme warns that spoofed shops imitate real retailers, and some even invent their own brand. A clean layout costs a scammer almost nothing, so we need checks that are harder to fake.
How to tell if an online store is fake: nine checks before you pay
No single check settles it. You’re looking for a pattern. One odd thing might be a clumsy but honest small shop. Three or four means close the tab.
1. Read the web address slowly
Look at the whole address, not just the brand name in it. Typos, extra words (think brandname-outlet-sale) and odd endings are all clues. Get Cyber Safe lists typos and addresses that borrow a familiar company’s name among its warning signs, though a site can still be a scam without typos. If you came through an ad, type the brand’s own address yourself. If you scanned a code on a poster or flyer, see our guide on how to spot a fake QR code.
2. Find out how old the site is
A free tool such as ICANN Lookup shows when a domain was registered. A shop claiming ten years of history on a domain registered three weeks ago deserves a hard look. Don’t over-read it, though: plenty of genuine businesses hide their owner details, and new doesn’t automatically mean fake.
3. Question the price
If expensive brand-name items are offered at bargain prices, the FTC warns they could be counterfeit or stolen. The fake shops in Canada’s examples advertised 70 to 90% off and pushed you to buy quickly. Countdown timers and “only 2 left” banners exist to stop you thinking.
4. Look for real contact details
A real shop gives you a way to reach a person: an address, a phone number, an email on its own domain. Be wary of a contact form and a free webmail address only; Get Cyber Safe flags email addresses that aren’t tied to the company. Search the address on a map, but a small home-based seller may have a modest one. What matters is whether anything checks out.
5. Read the returns and refund policy
Actually open it. A genuine policy says how many days you have, who pays return shipping and how refunds work, which are basics the FTC tells shoppers to check. Fake shops often paste in something vague, or text that names a different company.
6. Don’t trust the reviews on the shop’s own site
The reviews a shop shows you are the ones it chose to show. The FTC says not to rely on star ratings alone, because some reviews are fake, and fake ones aren’t always five-star. Check several sources, then do the simplest check there is: search the shop’s name plus “scam” or “complaint”. The FTC recommends exactly that.
7. Watch what the checkout asks for
Checkout needs your name, delivery address and payment details. It doesn’t need a government ID number, a password or your online banking login, yet one fake shop in Get Cyber Safe’s examples asked for an ID number and a password. Shops also shouldn’t force you to create an account. If you do, use a unique password, which a password manager makes painless.
8. Check how they want to be paid
This is the one I’d weigh most. The FTC says never to buy from a seller that insists on gift cards, wire transfers, a payment app or cryptocurrency, because they make it hard to get your money back. Singapore police also describe a 2026 pre-order version of the scam: a “deposit” or full payment upfront for popular collectibles, with delivery promised months away.
9. Verify the shop somewhere you control
Don’t use links the shop gives you. If it claims to sell a big brand’s products, check the brand’s own website for a list of authorised sellers. Look at the shop’s social pages: when were they created, and are the comments from real people? Google’s Safe Browsing site status page is a useful extra signal, but “nothing unsafe found” isn’t a clean bill of health, especially for a brand-new site.
Which payment methods leave you a way back
How you pay matters more than most people expect. Rules differ by country and bank, so treat this as a general guide, not a promise.
| Payment method | If the store turns out to be fake | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Credit card | Usually has a dispute route. The FTC says paying by credit card best protects you. | First choice if you have one. Deadlines can be short. |
| Debit card | Money leaves your account straight away. A dispute may be possible, but terms vary. | Ask your bank how disputes work. |
| Bank transfer or payment app | Hard to reverse. The FTC warns against sellers who insist on it. | A red flag by itself. |
| Cryptocurrency | Singapore police note that crypto transactions are irreversible and difficult to trace. | Scammers like it for that reason. |
| Gift cards | Practically impossible to recover. The FTC says never to pay a seller this way. | No real store insists on them. |
Ads, social media and marketplaces
Fake shops often find you, not the other way round, and an ad on a big platform isn’t an endorsement. In its 2026 brief, Singapore police said e-commerce scam victims were most often reached on Carousell and Telegram. Keep the chat and the payment on the platform, because in-app payments that release money after delivery add protection, and be wary of anyone who wants to move to a private chat. If you can, shop on mobile data or your home connection rather than café Wi-Fi. Our guide on whether public Wi-Fi is safe explains why.
If you’ve already paid a fake store
Don’t beat yourself up. These shops are built to look real. What matters now is speed. Work through this in order.
- Stop paying. A “release fee” or “customs charge” to ship your order is the same scam asking for more.
- Call your bank or card company now, using the number on your card, and ask about disputing the payment. Deadlines can be short: the FTC says US credit card holders need to act within 60 days of the first bill showing the error. Rules elsewhere differ, so ask.
- Save the evidence before the site vanishes. Screenshot the shop and product page, and keep the order confirmation, emails and payment record. The FTC suggests keeping the company name, website, what you ordered and paid, and all messages and statements.
- Lock down your accounts. If you created an account with a password you use elsewhere, change it everywhere and turn on two-step verification, ideally with an authenticator app. If the checkout took personal details, our guide on checking whether your data has been leaked shows how to see if they’ve surfaced. And if you also handed over a one-time code, or your phone suddenly loses signal, read our guide on the SIM swap attack straight away.
- Expect a second scam. “Recovery agents” sometimes offer to get your money back for a fee. That’s usually the same people trying again.
- Report it. Reports help authorities take shops down, even when your money isn’t recovered.
| Country | Where to report |
|---|---|
| Singapore | ScamShield Helpline, 1799 (24 hours, for advice), and a police report through police.gov.sg |
| India | National cyber crime helpline 1930, then the portal cybercrime.gov.in |
| United States | reportfraud.ftc.gov (Federal Trade Commission) |
| United Kingdom | Report Fraud, at reportfraud.police.uk |
| Australia | Scamwatch, at scamwatch.gov.au |
| Canada | Report Cybercrime and Fraud (Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre and RCMP), at reportcyberandfraud.canada.ca, and your local police |
Type these addresses yourself rather than clicking a link from a search ad. Scammers copy reporting sites too. Contact details can change, so check the official site if something doesn’t work.
The Bottom Line
| A padlock and a polished design prove very little. Before paying a store you don’t know, check the address and the site’s age, search its name with “scam” or “complaint”, read the return policy, and pay by card, not transfer, crypto or gift card. If a store fails more than one of those, close the tab. If you’ve already paid, call your bank first and report it second. |
| Editor’s observation
When I look at fake shops now, the design is rarely the giveaway. The giveaway is usually boring: no real address, no way to reach a human, and a payment method you can’t undo. I’d rather pay a little more at a shop I can trace than save 70% at one I can’t. That’s my opinion, not a rule. A genuine small shop may fail a check or two, so I’d watch for a pattern. Anamika Dey, editor |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is an online store safe if it has https and a padlock?
No. The padlock shows the connection is encrypted, not that the seller is honest. The FTC says https doesn’t mean a site is legitimate, because scammers can encrypt sites too. Treat the padlock as a minimum, then run the other checks.
Can I trust a store that has lots of five-star reviews?
Not on its own. The FTC says some reviews and ratings are fake, so check several sources and search the shop’s name with “scam” or “complaint”. Be doubtful of reviews that all sound alike or appear only on the shop’s own site.
Can I get my money back if I paid a fake store?
Sometimes. It depends on how you paid, your bank and country, and how fast you act. Card payments usually have a dispute route; transfers, crypto and gift cards rarely do. Call your bank first, and don’t assume a refund is guaranteed.
Your turn: Have you ever nearly bought from a fake store? What made you stop? Tell us in the comments.
| Want these checks as a printable list?
I put the safety steps from my guides into a 13-page Scam & Account Safety Checklist ($4.99), with tick boxes and a printable family page. |
Sources
- Singapore Police Force, Mid-Year Scam and Cybercrime Brief 2026 (released 26 August 2026)
- FTC Consumer Advice, Online Shopping
- Get Cyber Safe (Government of Canada), Real examples of fake online stores
- ICANN Lookup
- Google Safe Browsing site status
