Unfortunately, it is hard to figure out a scam site just by looking at their web site. Many are really bad and easily recognized, but some are really professional and look legit.
These are the most basic checks only and the simplest ones are just a few clicks for you to run them but you’ll be surprised how many of these scammers fail them:
Legal matters should be easy to find, typically the footer will contain links. Some sort of “terms of use” and especially a “privacy policy” are expected. Also a copyright notice containing the company name is usual.
The contact page should contain a phone number and a physical address, not just a form. If there’s a dispute where are you going to send a certified / registered mail outlining your grievances if you don’t have an address?
By now you should have the company name, either from the legal documents or the contact page. Be wary if not. If you still want to go ahead, you could check whois should to find the company owning the domain. There is nothing wrong with someone running a small niche travel service from their living room but incorporating is not particularly expensive and saves serious headaches on both ends. For extra precaution you could Google corporate registry california replacing california with whatever is appropriate for the situation which will give you a place to check the business indeed exists.
Edit: apply common sense! If a deal is too good to be true, there’s probably some catch in it. Maybe the astoundingly cheap hotel is indeed 500 metres from the sea shore and it is not a dump — but there’s a highway between the shore and you so you can’t get to the beach and you can’t sleep because of the noise. Anyone offering to handle a tourist visa into Saudi Arabia which doesn’t issue tourist visas to the general public. Handling visa appeal when there’s no appeal. Significantly cheaper air fare tickets than Google Flights or Kayak are possible but rare and requires extreme caution.
Credit:stackoverflow.com‘
4 Mar, 2024
4 Mar, 2024
5 Mar, 2024