We have all seen the fake duplicated accounts on social media. We know the tell tale signs of knowing how they are fake, but why are we all still falling victim to them and fake websites?
I don’t have an easy answer. I guess we are all just so used to using the web we don’t assume anything is fake or bad until it bites us in the ass. We need to stay vigilant. Just how we don’t take anything from Wikipedia at face value, we should not take ANYTHING we have not had dealings with as truth. That goes for news, “friends” on social media, and websites (especially online shops).
If a product is offered that you really like or want do some research on it and the company selling it. Don’t just click on that Facebook ad and assume it is a real company with a real product offering a real deal without delving into its background a little more.
Take for instance this fake website trying to sell FIELD HOCKEY products at ridiculously low prices.
The fake one looks very much like the real deal website. Using Longstreth.com‘s logo, product images, and basic site layout.
The dead giveaways that it is fake? The domain for one. The super discounted prices for another. Seriously, if the prices are too good to be true they probably are.
The second image (which prior to cyber Monday was the main banner) on the home page is of a totally different sport. If you do even the tiniest amount of research, (checking the information just on this website) you see the company address is in GA not CA (CA is in the domain name you would think their address would be in that state).
A quick google search shows that the address in their contact us page is fake. The street view shows a dead end and a creepy camper in the woods. So you’re saying your company is beyond that dead end somewhere in the woods? (seriously the below image is of the address they used on their website for their fake version of Longstreth).
Another red flag is that the hCaptcha account has been banned and service suspended. The even went so far as to mimic the store hours. But how in the world is there a store at that address (again look at the street view image above).
VS the real site, with verifiable address and phone numbers on the contact page. Question the authenticity of a website? Why not shoot them an email asking a simple question about a product and or their shipping rates before placing an order. Don’t give them your address and credit card information before you hear back from them and even then do more research. The real Longstreth with answer your questions about the products or even a basic field hockey question whether you email or use the online chat feature.
You are going to risk giving away your credit card and address information to a company that doesn’t answer emails and doesn’t have an actual address? Just so you can save a few dollars (okay a lot of dollars because their prices are insanely low (red flag anyone). You might as well do business out of a van in a dark alley.
Additional research into the site will show you who the owner is (in this case they opted for private domain registration, but when I first found this site it showed the owner name and address in China). Now the only info you see in a WhoIs lookup is simply China.
I went so far as to look up how the site is made. It is a WordPress site using WooCommerce. The domain was registered with Name.com and the hosting company is Cloudflare. Both of which have ways to report fraud or phishing sites, but both of which seem to think there is nothing wrong with helping to deceive the general public as long as they get paid.
If you are Googling Longstreth Coupons, Longstreth Deals or Longstreth Outlet. Just be careful that you are in fact dealing with Longstreth. They only have one website. And the website clearly states that they are the only website.
DO YOUR RESEARCH PEOPLE!