That deal looks too good to be true. It is.

How fake stores operate

A modern fake store is built in under 4 hours using templates that clone real retailer designs. They run paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, and Google targeting deal-hunters with prices 50-80% below market. When you "purchase," one of three things happens:

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  You receive nothing — the most common outcome.

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  You receive a cheap knockoff — to delay your chargeback window.

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  Your payment details are harvested — and sold on the dark web.

These stores typically last 2-3 weeks before being taken down, then the scammer launches a new domain and repeats the cycle. Some operations run hundreds of domains simultaneously.

How to verify any website in 30 seconds

Before entering payment details on any unfamiliar site:

1. 1.

   Check the domain age — use whois.domaintools.com. Legitimate retailers have years of history. Scam sites are days or weeks old.

2. 2.

   Search "[site name] + scam + reviews" — check Reddit, Trustpilot, and Sitejabber.

3. 3.

   Look for real contact information — a physical address, phone number, and email. Google the address.

4. 4.

   Check the URL carefully — scammers use misspellings (amaz0n, paypai) or extra words (nike-official-store.com).

5. 5.

   Look for HTTPS — but don't trust it alone. Scam sites have SSL certificates too.

6. 6.

   Read the return policy — vague or missing return policies are a major red flag.

7. 7.

   Pay with a credit card — never wire transfer, gift cards, or crypto. Credit cards offer chargeback protection.

The question that ends it in one message

The checks above are worth running and they catch a lot. But be clear about what they measure. Domain age can be bought, because expired domains are sold every day. Reviews can be written. A padlock only means the connection is encrypted, never that the shop is real. Photographs are lifted from the genuine retailer. Every one of those is a property of the shopfront, and the shopfront is the cheap part.

There is one thing a fake shop cannot do, and it costs you nothing to find out.

A real seller does not care. They are paid either way and reversible payment is simply the cost of selling to strangers. A fraud cannot accept it and remain in business, because a chargeable payment means the money can be taken back after the goods fail to arrive, and there are no goods. So the pressure begins: a discount for paying by bank transfer, a story about card fees, a claim that the platform is holding funds, a friends-and-family request, a link to a crypto or gift-card payment page. The rail they steer you to is the confession, which is the same point our guide to card chargebacks makes from the other end.

The same test works face to face on a marketplace. Offer to collect in person, in daylight, at a public place of your choosing. Ask one specific question the listing does not answer, such as a serial number or a photograph of the item beside today’s newspaper. A real seller finds this mildly tedious and complies. A fraud has to talk you out of it, and the talking is the tell.

None of this means stop checking the site. Thirty seconds of verification still catches the careless operations, and there are many. The claim is narrower: the shopfront is no longer sufficient on its own to decide, because the shopfront is what the money was spent on. Use the checks to recognise it. Use the payment method to decide.

Facebook Marketplace and peer-to-peer scams

Marketplace scams are at an all-time high. The most common tactics:

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  Payment before meeting — never pay until you've inspected the item in person.

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  Fake payment confirmations — screenshots showing "payment sent" that never actually clear.

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  Shipping scams — seller ships an empty box or a different item.

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  Overpayment scam — buyer sends a check for more than the asking price, asks you to refund the difference (the original check bounces).

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  Fake rental listings — properties that don't exist or aren't actually for rent.