Ways to spot fake shopping web sites

[udaynjbiz]

Here is my list of indications that this is a troll web site and is not legit:

1) No phone number to contact the company at, only an email.

2) A email to the web site to send a phone number so you can call them and discuss your order is ignored.

3) Prices are artifically low.

4) The WHOIS Entry on Register.com is blocked.

5) Go to search.live.com and put in the address of the company. In some cases, the address is a fake address.

6) Do a search on the name of the company on alibaba.com A lot of the chinese web sites register there and you see the fake ones with various inconsistent details like #employees, owner name, etc.

What do you think of these two web sites?

Z9Electronics.com

TraditionsInc.us

I pulled up TraditionsInc on google earth and their address takes me to an empty field with no buildings around. Not saying they are a fake web site, but their circimstances are weird (no phone, etc).

[nomaxim]

The WhoIs info for z9electronics.com shows a private registration and that the website went online 14AUG2008. The 'Contact Us' page gives,

Z9 Electronics
23844 S. Power Rd Ste 102-455
Queen Creek, AZ 85242

Per a reverse address look-up using Whitepages.com the address is a rented mailbox.

Mail Boxes Etc
work
23844 S Power Rd, Ste 102
Queen Creek, AZ 85242-6123
(480) 776-1876

The WhoIs info for traditions.us gives a address in Register, GA., lists a free Yahoo e-mail account, and shows a creation date of 4APR2009, two weeks ago. The 'Contact Us' page gives a address in Camilla, GA. a phone number and the same Yahoo e-mail address. Again using Whitepages.com both address come back as private residences (the phone number does match one of them). Per Mapquest.com the two address's are 211.41 miles apart. Wouldn't be surprised if the two address's where picked at random out of the phone book.

[Steve R Jones]

7) Only payment option is wire transfer.

8) The site's address shows Russia or the Ukraine.

[MarcelDoel]

Check whois info and try to compare current contact us page and whois info. Or try to search stores name in google and see for any references coming from good site or not...

[Kavindra]

Great info, teach us how to do it well.

[jdunlap]

I'd also recommend using an online yellow pages service, they usually have the most up-to-date info on businesses and people.

[svcstore]

Keep one thing in mind before coming to a conclusion with something like Google maps. The satellite images are a few years old. So if they are in a newly developed business park, you might see an empty field. The actual map however is usually pretty up to date.