Is this website legit? A five-minute check before you buy

The shop that did not exist last month

Fake online stores are cheap to build and quick to disappear. A copied product photo, a template, a domain registered a few weeks ago, and an ad on social media is all it takes. The prices are low enough to make you hurry, and when the order never arrives, the site is gone.

You cannot tell a real store from a fake one by how it looks. A fake can be a pixel-perfect copy. What you can check is everything the scammer cannot fake cheaply: time, reputation, and how they want your money.

1. Look at the domain, and how old it is

Read the address in your browser's bar, from the right: the site is the last two parts before the first single slash. nike-outlet-store.shop is not Nike, whatever the logo says.

Then check how long the domain has existed. A store that says it has been "serving customers since 2010" on a domain registered six weeks ago is telling you something. Paste the address into our checker and it shows the domain's age along with everything else it finds. A new domain is not proof of a scam, because every real business was new once, but a new domain plus huge discounts plus a famous brand name is the classic fake store.

2. Search for what other people say

Search for the store's name, and the exact web address the ad sent you to, together with words like review, complaint or scam. That is the FTC's own first step. Look for what people say on other sites. The reviews on the store's own pages prove nothing: whoever built the site wrote those too.

A total silence is also a finding. A shop with thousands of five-star reviews on its own pages and no trace anywhere else has probably not had many customers.

3. Look at how it wants to be paid

This is the check that matters most, because it decides whether you can get your money back.

• Credit card: the safest way to pay online. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act you can dispute a charge for goods that never arrived, as long as your dispute reaches the card issuer in writing within 60 days of the statement that first showed it (FTC).
• Debit card: report a problem to your bank straight away. The protection is weaker than a credit card's, and the money is already out of your account while it is sorted out.
• Zelle, a bank or wire transfer, Venmo, Cash App, gift cards or crypto: money sent this way is very hard to get back, which is exactly why scammers want it. The FTC puts it plainly: anyone who says you can only pay in one of these ways "is probably a scammer" (FTC, July 2026).

If a store's checkout suddenly "has a problem with cards" and asks you to pay another way, or offers a discount for paying with an app, stop there.

4. Find out who is behind it

A real business can be found. Look for:

• a physical address you can look up, not just a contact form
• a phone number that is answered by a person
• a returns policy that names the store itself. Copied policies sometimes still carry another shop's name, or a country it does not ship from
• an "about us" page that says something specific, rather than paragraphs about "passion" and "quality"

None of these alone is decisive, and a determined scammer can fake some of them. But a store that hides every one of them is asking you to trust nothing at all.

5. Be suspicious of the deal itself

• prices far below everyone else's, on things that are never discounted like that
• a countdown timer, "only 3 left", or a "closing down sale" that never closes
• a brand-new site selling one hot product that is sold out everywhere else
• you found it through an ad or a post on social media rather than by looking for it

The pressure is the point. Every one of these is designed to make you pay before you check.

What our checker can tell you

Guarded Link opens the store's address in a separate browser, follows it to where it really ends, and tells you how old the domain is, whether it is on public blocklists, whether the page imitates a known brand or asks for card details, and whether people have reported it to us. It is free, it needs no sign-up, and it takes a few seconds.

It cannot vouch for a store. "Low risk" means our checks found nothing wrong at that moment, not that the shop will deliver. The five checks above are still yours to make.

If you already paid

Act quickly. The sooner you call, the more options you have.

• Credit card: call the number on the back of the card, say the purchase was a scam and ask for a refund. Then send the written dispute as well, inside the 60 days: a phone call alone may not protect your rights.
• Debit card: call your bank or credit union immediately.
• Zelle or a bank transfer: call your bank or credit union immediately and ask them to reverse the payment. Zelle has no app of its own; it works through your bank, so your bank is who you call.
• Venmo, Cash App or PayPal: report it to the app immediately and ask it to reverse the payment.
• Gift cards: contact the company that issued the card, tell them a scammer tricked you into giving them the card number and PIN, and ask for your money back. Keep the card and the receipt.

This is the FTC's own list, and it has the rest: wire transfers, crypto, and cash sent by mail (What to do if you were scammed).

Then report it to the Federal Trade Commission at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and if the store reached you through a social media ad, report the ad on that platform so it stops reaching the next person.