Buying online is convenient, but not every website is what it seems. A professional-looking website does not necessarily mean the business behind it is genuine.
In 2026, checking a website before buying is more important than ever. The Office for National Statistics estimated 4.5 million incidents of fraud in England and Wales in the year ending March 2026. Citizens Advice also found that more than seven million UK adults had been deceived by a scam in the previous 12 months, with 26% of those personally affected being caught out while shopping online.
Here are some simple checks you can make before handing over your money.
Start by checking who actually owns the website. Look for the company's legal name and registered company number, then search for the company through Companies House.
Check that the business exists and that its details broadly match what is shown on the website. Look at when the company was registered, its registered address and whether it appears to be active.
A company being registered does not automatically mean it is trustworthy, but it is an important first check.
If the business provides financial services, such as loans, insurance or investments, one of the most essential ways to check if a site is safe to use is checking whether it is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The FCA says almost all firms providing financial services in the UK must be authorised or registered. You should also check that the firm has permission for the specific service it is offering.
Be particularly careful if a company claims to be FCA regulated but you cannot find it on the FCA register. Scammers can also pretend to be genuine authorised businesses, so check the contact details against the FCA's own records.
Trustworthy websites usually give you some indication of who runs the company.
Look for names, photographs, company addresses and a real telephone number. You can then search for the people involved on LinkedIn and other professional websites.
Do these people appear to genuinely work for the business? Can you find evidence of their experience? Are there other people connected to the company?
A website that only provides a contact form, generic email address or mobile number, with no identifiable people behind it, deserves more investigation.
Price is another useful warning sign. If something is dramatically cheaper than it is everywhere else, ask yourself why. A genuine sale is possible, but an unusually low price can also indicate counterfeit goods, a fake website or a product that does not actually exist.
The opposite can also be a warning. If something seems unusually expensive compared with established competitors, check exactly what you are getting.
Compare several independent websites before making a decision rather than relying on the price shown by the seller.
Reviews can be helpful, but do not assume a five-star rating proves that a website is genuine.
Look at the wording and timing of the reviews. Do they all sound very similar? Are there hundreds of reviews that appeared within a short period? Do reviewers provide useful details about their experience?
Look for reviews across several independent platforms rather than relying only on testimonials published on the website itself.
A few negative reviews do not necessarily mean a business is a scam. What matters is how the company responds to complaints and whether there is a consistent pattern of problems.
Search the company name alongside words such as “scam”, “complaint”, “refund” or “review”.
Forums, Reddit, Facebook groups and other social media platforms can reveal problems that are not obvious from the company's own website.
People who have had a bad experience often share what happened online. Look for repeated complaints about goods not arriving, poor quality, refunds being refused or the company becoming difficult to contact.
This should not be treated as absolute proof, but several independent complaints are a strong reason to investigate further.
If you are unsure, contact the company before making a purchase. Receiving a random email or SMS can be a simple way for scammers to phish for your information – so you should naturally have the mindset to treat these with caution.
Ask about delivery times, refunds, warranties, the legal company name and where the goods are being supplied from. A genuine business should normally be able to answer straightforward questions clearly.
Be wary if the answers are vague, you are pressured to pay immediately, or the company refuses to provide basic information.
Consider using a credit card for larger purchases where appropriate.
Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, credit card purchases costing more than £100 and up to £30,000 can have additional protection if something goes wrong. This can apply even when you only pay part of the purchase using the credit card.
It is worth noting that this is Section 75, rather than “Section 75a”. The rules can be specific, so check that your purchase qualifies before relying on the protection.
Ultimately, no single check can guarantee that a website is safe. But checking the company, looking for real people, comparing prices, investigating reviews and searching for independent feedback can significantly reduce the risk of losing money.
Taking ten minutes to investigate a website could save you hours of stress later.
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