Is ScamAdviser a Scam?
Author: James Greening
In 2012, Marc bought a set of golf clubs online and quickly discovered they were fake. There are few things more dangerous than an angry developer and out of his frustration, ScamAdviser.com was born. Marc started the site to help online shoppers make more informed decisions before buying online.
A few years later, the website was acquired by the Ecommerce Operations and we have been continuing Marc’s mission with considerable success. ScamAdviser.com now helps over 3 million consumers every month to discover if a website is legitimate or a possible scam. Further, we are also able to keep 1 billion users safe online by providing data on scams to Internet filters and anti-virus software companies.
Is ScamAdviser a Scam or Legit?
A scammer’s worst enemy is anyone who tries to prevent scams from happening. With ScamAdviser being one of the organizations at the forefront of scam fighting, it is no surprise that we have quite a few enemies.
We regularly receive threatening emails from scammers who do not like that we are exposing their scams. Surprisingly, we even receive angry emails from confused scam victims who mistakenly believe that we operate the website that scammed them. Many of the scammers and victims voice their displeasure online, leading others to believe that ScamAdviser itself may be a scam.
How true is the statement? Consider the below facts.
What is ScamAdviser?
ScamAdviser helps consumers making their online shopping decisions by rating websites with the ScamAdviser Trust Score. The Trust Score serves as a guide for consumers to judge the likelihood of a website being a scam.
The algorithm of ScamAdviser utilizes more than 40 data sources. From the IP address of the webserver, the availability of contact details on the website, the age of the URL, ratings on review sites and much much more.
How Does ScamAdviser Make Money?
ScamAdviser makes money by running advertisements on the website and offering data services to other organizations. No private information is shared. To be very clear, we never, ever take money from website owners to list their websites as safe.
Genuine website owners can claim their ScamAdviser page for free by furnishing the requisite documentation. If the organization passes the verification, the Trust is automatically increased, but in no way does that mean that the website will maintain a high Trust Score if it deceives customers or clients.
Partners & Collaborators
We also share our domain data with various internet companies including cybersecurity firms, brand protection agencies, payment portals and even law enforcement authorities. Click here to view our list of partners.
Through our partnerships and collaborations, we are able to not only keep consumers safe but also aid in putting a stop to scammers’ activities.
Research & Reports
ScamAdviser is also active in gathering and publishing information about the severity of online scams. For example, we found through our research that €36 billion was lost to online scams in 2019 alone. You can read more about our findings in the Global State of Scams 2020 Report.
We also conduct surveys to help understand why and how online scams propagate. One such survey we conducted was on the topic of ‘Why Do Consumers Buy Fakes?’ to find out what motivates online shoppers to buy counterfeits. Click here to read the results of the survey.
Starting 2020, ScamAdviser also organises the annual Global Online Scam Summit (GOSS) together with APWG and the Global Cyber Alliance to help governments, consumer authorities, law enforcement, brand protection agencies and (cybersecurity) companies share knowledge and insights on fighting online scams and fraud more effectively and efficiently. GOSS is the only global conference focused on consumer-related scams.
Scamfighter Community & User Reviews
Through our website and social media pages (Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn) and groups (Facebook Group and Telegram), we help thousands of users avoid scams.
We also provide guidance to individuals for free, however, we occasionally request them to leave us a review. There are many who leave reviews on their own simply because ScamAdviser helped them avoid getting scammed.
You can check reviews about Scamadviser on several websites such as TrustPilot, Sitejabber, WebOfTrust and Google. Here’s what they have to say:
On all the platforms, you will see a number of negative reviews too. However, any reasonable person will understand that most of these are malicious attempts by scammers to make ScamAdviser look bad in order to dilute our credibility and make victims question whether our Trust Score is accurate.
Copycats & Impersonators
Due to ScamAdviser achieving popularity in recent years, several copycats and impersonators have popped up. Some websites copy the entire layout of our website and give their own website a (fake) high Trust Score.
Others copy our name. Sites like Scam-Adviser (notice the hyphen) aka MyScamAdviser have names similar to our brand but have absolutely no relation to our organization. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has even issued a warning labelling them as unauthorized firms.
We have also come across several fake social media pages and groups misusing our brand name that give fake advice, such as for investment.
ScamAdviser.com is our genuine website and we do not have any pages or groups except those listed on our site. Beware of strangers approaching you by saying that they represent ScamAdviser as there is a chance they may be scammers. If in doubt, contact us.
We hope the above information is enough to convince you about the legitimacy of ScamAdviser. If you have any queries, please get in touch with us through our website or social media pages and we will be happy to answer your questions.
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