ScamCheck ZA

How a check works

Eight checks, the same eight every time, in the same order, from the same public sources. Nothing is skipped and nothing is quietly added. What follows is the whole method, so you can judge it for yourself rather than take our word for it.

  1. 01Domain registrationThe public record of who owns the name and since when.
  2. 02Archived historyWhen the site first appeared on the internet, and how often it has been captured since.
  3. 03Visitor popularityWhere the domain ranks among the most-visited websites in the world.
  4. 04Certificate and emailThe site’s HTTPS certificate and whether its domain can receive mail.
  5. 05Safety listingsPublic databases of malware and phishing sites.
  6. 06Customer reviewsThe review claims a site makes about itself, and where the independent reviews live.
  7. 07Contact and business detailsThe phone number, email, address, company number and social accounts a site publishes.
  8. 08How it takes paymentWhich payment gateways the site uses, and whose account the money would go to.

What each check establishes

Every check has a limit, and the limit is part of the finding. We list both, because a tool that only tells you what it can prove is easier to mislead you with.

01

Domain registration

ZACR WHOIS RDAP

Establishes
When the domain was registered, which registrar holds it, whether the registry has frozen it.
Does not establish
Whether the person behind it is honest. Plenty of honest businesses are young, and a young domain is a reason for care, never a verdict.
02

Archived history

Wayback Machine

Establishes
The date of the first capture, which cannot be backdated. A site claiming to have traded since 2009 with no archive before last month is contradicting itself.
Does not establish
What the site is today. A good business can be taken over, and an old domain can be bought tomorrow.
03

Visitor popularity

Tranco

Establishes
Whether the site has real, sustained traffic. A domain that appears on the list cannot have been registered last week.
Does not establish
Anything about a small shop. Most legitimate businesses are not on that list, so being absent from it is never a warning sign.
04

Certificate and email

Certificate logs

Establishes
Whether the connection is encrypted, how recently the certificate was issued, and whether a contact address on the domain can receive mail at all.
Does not establish
Whether the seller is trustworthy. A padlock is free and takes seconds to obtain; it says the connection is encrypted, nothing more.
05

Safety listings

OpenPhish URLhaus Safe Browsing Maltiverse

Establishes
That this exact domain is known to distribute malware or harvest logins. A listing is treated as decisive.
Does not establish
That a clean result means clean. A scam that opened last week has not been reported yet, which is why absence is worth nothing.
06

Customer reviews

Trustpilot Hellopeter

Establishes
Whether the site shows reviews at all, and where to read the ones it did not choose.
Does not establish
Whether its own reviews are real. Reviews on a seller’s page are chosen by the seller and are trivial to copy, so we never score them.
07

Contact and business details

CIPC registers ICASA numbering

Establishes
Whether there is a real entity to hold responsible, and a way to reach a person before you pay.
Does not establish
That anyone answers. We do not phone anyone, and a printed number can be printed by anyone.
08

How it takes payment

Establishes
Whether money can be disputed. A card or gateway payment has a chargeback route; a transfer into a personal account has none.
Does not establish
That a gateway was used honestly. Plenty of honest small traders invoice by EFT, so a transfer alone is never a verdict.

The four answers a report can give

  • Strong warning signs

    Something strongly associated with scam websites: a safety listing, or money with no route back.

  • Be careful

    Some genuine warning signs. Pay by card if you can, and never by bank transfer to a private account.

  • Not enough information

    Too much of the evidence could not be collected. This is not a clean bill of health, and it is not an accusation either.

  • No warning signs found

    Positive evidence and no warning signs, which makes a scam less likely. It is not a guarantee.

Reassurance carries the highest bar. A report only reaches “no warning signs found” when most of the checks actually ran. A check we could not complete is marked as a gap in our information, never treated as a pass.

What we say, and what we never say

We say

  • This domain was registered eleven days ago.
  • The only way to pay is a transfer into an account in someone’s name.
  • We could not check the archive this time, so this report is incomplete.
  • The certificate is valid, which proves the connection is encrypted.

We never say

  • This site is a scam.
  • This business is a fraud.
  • This seller is dishonest.
  • This site is safe to buy from.

Calling a real business a scam is defamatory the moment we are wrong, and an automated check will sometimes be wrong: a new honest shop looks identical to a new scam on almost every signal. A finding you can read and check is worth more to you than a label you have to trust.

Check any of it yourself

Every finding on a report links to the place it came from. These are all of them, and none of them need an account.