What three questions settle most scams?
The eight guides below cover a website, a phone number, a job offer, a crypto exchange, a charity, a marketplace seller, a landlord and an Airbnb host. The details differ. Three questions come up in every one of them.
First, can the claim be confirmed somewhere the other party does not control? A public register, the platform's own page or a number you already held all qualify. A link, a number or a document they sent you does not.
Second, how old is the thing asking for money? A domain, an account, a listing or a company created weeks ago is the pattern these scams take, not an exception to it.
Third, can the payment be reversed? If it cannot, a mistake on the first two questions is permanent. Each question has its own section below, and each points to the guide that goes deeper.
Which check fits what you are looking at?
Each guide leads with the check that settles most of its cases. Here they are side by side, so you can start with the one that fits what is in front of you.
| You are looking at | Run this first | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| A website | When the domain was registered | Is this website a scam? |
| A phone number | Whether it belongs to the organisation it names | Is this phone number a scam? |
| A job offer | The employer's own careers page and switchboard | Is this job offer a scam? |
| A crypto exchange | Its FinCEN, FCA or MiCA registration | Is this crypto exchange legit? |
| A charity | The IRS search, or the register for its UK nation | Check a charity before donating |
| A marketplace seller | Whether the payment can still be reversed | Check a marketplace seller |
| A landlord | That the person letting it owns the property | Check a landlord before renting |
| An Airbnb host | What Airbnb publishes, and the photographs | Verify an Airbnb host |
Why does the payment method decide the outcome?
Because it decides whether a mistake can be undone. Platform checkout and card payments can be reversed. Cash, a bank transfer, Zelle and a gift card cannot, and those are what a scammer asks for (marketplace sellers are the plainest case).
A charity appeal follows the same rule. Pay the charity directly, by card or cheque; cash, gift cards and wires are how fraudulent appeals ask to be paid (checking a charity).
A cheque runs the rule backwards. A deposited cheque clears provisionally, the reversal arrives weeks later, and the bank recovers the money from you rather than from the sender (job offers).
A crypto platform runs it on a timer. The small withdrawal clears as a scripted step, and the fee demanded before the large one is the documented ending (crypto exchanges).
What does age tell you, and where does it mislead?
Age is the cheapest signal to read and one of the hardest to fake. A storefront registered weeks ago and selling discounted brand-name goods is the pattern website fraud takes, and the registration date is public even where the owner's name is not.
The same reading works on accounts and listings. Airbnb publishes how long a host has hosted and the month their identity was verified (verifying a host), and a thin review history means something different on an old listing than on a new one.
It misleads in one direction. Something new has no history to find, and neither does an honest new business line or a genuine first listing (phone numbers). Age raises or lowers suspicion. It does not settle it.
Which public registers settle a claim?
A register answers one narrow question in public, which is its value. The IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search shows whether a charity is tax-exempt and lists revocations in the same search box. Britain keeps separate charity registers for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (charities).
For crypto businesses there are FinCEN's search in the United States, the FCA register in the United Kingdom and ESMA's MiCA register in the European Union (exchanges). For a rental, the deed names the owner, and the office that holds it will confirm it in writing (landlords).
Read each one for what it says. FinCEN states that appearing in its search is not a certification of legitimacy. Registration proves a form was filed, not that the business will pay you.
Why confirm a claim on a channel you already had?
Because the channel the approach arrived on is the one the scammer controls. Never dial the number in a message; reach the bank through its app, a statement or the back of the card (phone numbers).
A recruiter is checked on the company's own careers page and switchboard, not on the profile that contacted you (job offers). An Airbnb host who asks to move the booking or the payment off the platform is breaking Airbnb's written policy, and the payment loses AirCover with it (hosts).
Photographs travel the other way. A reverse image search of a listing's pictures costs nothing and settles the commonest version of the marketplace, rental and holiday-let fraud. It is the one check here that needs no account and no identifier at all.
What can a lookup settle, and what can it not?
A lookup reads the identifiers you already have: an email address, a phone number or a username. It shows which accounts are attached to them, whether they appear in known breaches, and roughly how old those accounts are. Nobody you look up is told that you searched.
That answers a narrower question than people hope. It can show that a recruiter's address is brand new, or that a seller's number has no footprint at all. It cannot tell you whether the company has heard of the person recruiting for it (job offers).
Some records stay closed. A marketplace seller's name, address and record, and a landlord's credit file or criminal history, are closed to you and closed to us (sellers, landlords).
What can no check prove?
That you will be paid, served or delivered to. A website can pass every technical check and still never send the parcel, which is why non-delivery is its own category of complaint (websites).
A clean result is weak evidence for the same reason. Something bought or built last week has no history to find, honest or not, so an empty lookup cannot tell the two apart.
A badge dates a check rather than vouching for a person. Airbnb says its verification does not guarantee someone is who they say they are (hosts), and OfferUp says its TruYou badge is a check on a document (sellers). Treat each of these as a reason to doubt less, never as proof.
What should you do if you have already paid?
Contact the bank or card issuer the same day and report the payment as fraud. A reversal is a request the provider can still act on, and it is the one step in this guide that works after the money has gone.
If you deposited a cheque from an employer or a buyer, stop forwarding money from it. The credit is provisional, and the reversal will come back to you (job offers).
Then report the approach to the platform it reached you through, and keep the messages, the listing and the payment record. Each guide in the table above ends with what to do next for that kind of scam, which is more specific than anything that fits all eight.
Common questions
How do I know if something is a scam?
Ask three things before you pay: can the claim be confirmed somewhere the other party does not control, how old is the thing asking for money, and can the payment be reversed. A new, unconfirmable request for an irreversible payment is the shape fraud takes. Then run the specific check for what you are looking at.
What is the safest way to pay someone I do not know?
A method the provider will still reverse: a card, or the platform's own checkout. Cash, a bank transfer, Zelle, a gift card and cryptocurrency cannot be pulled back once sent, which is why scams ask for them. If the other party insists on one of those, treat the insistence itself as the warning.
Does a padlock or a verified badge mean it is safe?
No. The padlock means the connection is encrypted, not that the site is honest, and the FBI has said so since 2019. A verified badge dates a document check rather than vouching for a person: Airbnb says its verification does not guarantee someone is who they say they are.
Can a scam look completely legitimate?
Yes. A website can pass every technical check and still never deliver, a registered crypto business can still refuse a withdrawal, and a listing can use real photographs of a real property. The checks lower the odds of being caught out. None of them proves you will be paid or served.
Why does it matter how old a website or account is?
Because the fraud pattern is new things asking for money. A storefront registered weeks ago and selling discounted brand-name goods is how website scams usually look. Age is not proof on its own, though: an honest new business is new too, so read it alongside the other two questions.
Should I call the number in the message to check?
No. The number in the message is the one the scammer controls. Reach the organisation through a channel you already had: its app, a statement, the number printed on your card, or its own website typed in by hand. That is the step that separates a real alert from a fake one.
Can a people-search lookup tell me if someone is a scammer?
It can read what is attached to an email address, phone number or username: the accounts, breach records and how old those accounts are. That often exposes a brand-new or empty identity. It cannot show intent, and it cannot reach closed records such as a seller's address or a landlord's criminal history.
What should I do if I already sent money?
Contact your bank or card issuer the same day and report the payment as fraud, so a reversal can still be requested. If you deposited a cheque from the other party, stop forwarding money from it. Keep the messages and payment records, and report the approach to the platform it came through.
