Nearly 4500 fake stores taken offline
In 2019, the SIDN took almost 4500 fake stores offline.They managed this thanks to a self-learning detection tool developed by SIDN Labs.
With this tool, Dutch domain registrations are continuously scanned.It looks for features that are more often found in fake webshops.
For example, no contact option, no KVK number, no reviews, suspicious domain names, etc.This self-learning tool turns out to be very good, as it achieves a security percentage of 79.3 percent.
How do I recognize fake stores?
As a consumer it is of course also important how you yourself can recognize fake webshops.You do not want to be scammed, so it is important to look at a number of things.
If it is a webshop with no SSL certificate, then it is not advisable to order from them.Often fake shops have no SSL certificate, so always check whether you have an https connection.
It is also important to check the contact details.Often fake webshops have no contact information or contact information that is not correct.
It is also advisable to search for the company on Google.This kind of fake web stores are never registered with Google as a company, you will also see that few results come up.
How do I protect my own store
If you have your own web store and accompanying Hosting you will of course want it to be well protected.You can take various measures but the most important is probably the SSL certificate.
So you can offer your visitors a secure connection so they can immediately know that this is a reliable website.This gives you potential customers also directly confidence in your visitors.
It is also important to use a strong password for your admin account.Malicious users can easily get in here if the password is too simple.
They can then turn your whole webshop upside down or change the payment details on your website.This will make the customers transfer the money to the malicious user instead of to you.
It's also a good idea to hide your admin page by changing the link, for example.Fortunately, you can do this easily by using a plug-in.
If you have any further questions about this, you can always check if a chat employee is available.If there is no one on the chat then you can best send a ticket to the helpdesk.
