August 1, 2025 • 28 mins
Helpful episodes to listen to first
Check #1 - Is the website less than a year old?
Check #2 - What does Trustpilot say?
Questions we answer in this episodeWhy does this check sometimes get skipped?
What’s one super simple way to spot a fake shopping site?
Why might a scammer want you to contact them?
Which red flags in a reply should make you walk away?
Episode summaryThe third item on our Safe Website Checklist is all about communication: Can You Get an Answer?
Reputable shopping sites usually offer multiple clear ways to get in touch - a phone number, social media, and live chat - not just email. If those channels are missing, broken, or fake, that’s a big red flag.
But even if you can reach someone, don’t let your guard down. Scammers can and do reply - sometimes quickly. The key is how they respond and whether it feels trustworthy. If you’re unsure, bring in your Protection Partner for a second opinion. Trust your gut, or as I call it, your spidey sense.
Call to actionPick a trusted shopping website and check which contact methods they offer. Is there a phone number? A real social media presence? Maybe a live chat? Get curious - and the next time you’re on a new site, you’ll know exactly what to look for.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Super Simple Security Principles. I'm Nick Jackson, and as much as I want to love
(00:07):
computers, they don't love me back. I'm learning how to stay safe from my good buddy and master
guardian, Makani Mason. Woo! Shout out to you, buddy. He wrote his first computer program when
he was six, setting his fate as a future child prodigy, and here you are. You know,
(00:28):
congratulations. You're still rolling, man. The old heads that stopped you. He spends his time
teaching me specifically and people like me how to stay safe ahead of the digital threats and the
bad guys. Hallelujah. He keeps it simple. We love it. Learn along each week with me. I'll ask questions
(00:49):
and make sure he keeps it simple and relevant and super simple for us. That's the key, right? If I
can do it, you can do it. Let's dive right in. This is episode 75, how to fix all the problems with
all shnikes. It's okay. Well, listeners, guess what? We're rolling with it. Oh, yeah. It's all good.
(01:17):
That's a big screw up. This is episode 74, safe website check three. Can you get an answer? All
right. Look, our master guardian didn't give me a lot of notes for this question. So to make it fun,
(01:38):
I'm going to ask this. What is the answer? I get the answer to.
Yeah. We will definitely answer that. Yeah. Okay. Here are the questions we'll be answering in
today's episode. What does this check sometime? Why does this check sometimes get skipped?
(02:02):
What's one super simple way to spot a fake shopping website? This really intrigued me.
Why might a scammer want you to contact them? Which red flags in a reply should make you walk away?
Dude, we got some heavy ones, man. How are you going to make this episode light? Like,
(02:26):
it's kind of scared me a little bit when I first read it. Like, just to get this introduction started
right. Like, I was like, wait, it gets skipped. Okay. He gives us hope. One simple way to spot a
fake website. And then he goes, why am I a scammer? I want you to contact them. I'm like, great. I'm
(02:48):
going to contact a scammer by accident. I know this is going to happen. And then you bring us back with
the, which red flags in a reply should make you walk away. So interesting. Yeah. I was like, I was
like, man, that's what I was about to say. Whenever I feel this way, you usually help me see the light
(03:20):
and see, okay, we're okay. Because you've got a solution, right? Yeah. Well, and yeah, I mean,
and I guess that's, you know, in some ways, the balance we try to try to strike, right? We've
talked about this before wanting to be aware. So, you know, a little bit of healthy fear, right?
Healthy awareness at least, but then hopefully have the tools to manage that fear and mitigate
(03:47):
the risks that causes the fear, you know? Yeah. So, okay. So where do we start? I took a long
introduction time, so I apologize. Oh, no, no, it was good. So, well, so the number three in there
is, you know, we've taught, we had two episodes before where we were talking about our safe website
(04:09):
checklist, right? So check number one was, is the website less than a year old? We did that in
episode 70. Check number two was, what does Trustpilot say? That was last week in episode 73.
Okay. So today is check number three, and that is, can you get an answer?
(04:31):
And yes, like who you get an answer from is, you know, from the website that we're trying to evaluate,
right? Okay. That makes sense? That makes sense. So as we're evaluating,
can we get an answer from this website? Yeah. Exactly. So, and this can be done pretty quickly
(04:52):
and easily. You could, there's, I mean, there are a lot of things you can check, but there are some,
especially, and we'll get into it in just a second, that you can eliminate very quickly sometimes.
But the overall idea is to check what forms of communication they offer. And then depending on
how you feel about it, what you see there, maybe actually seek an answer to a question, like reach
(05:13):
out to them and initiate contact. Okay. But sometimes you don't need to. So there's four
methods of communication. I mean, there's lots, but these are kind of the four groupings. I put them
in the way I'm breaking it down for this purpose. So the method number one, and this is, I mean,
these come from like how I do it. Cause I have, you know, my wife, kids, friends regularly, like,
(05:38):
Hey, you know, what do you think about this, you know, shopping website? Like I get this. So
right. You know, um, I wouldn't be shocked if I've sent you one or two.
Yeah, exactly. So one of the, one of the quick ways, and obviously this is item number three on the
checklist, but within, once I get to this stage of communication, I just check for a phone number.
(06:01):
Okay. Right. And if they have one, just give it a call real quick. And I've had plenty of times where
it's just disconnected, you know, so not a good sign, right? Not a good sign. Well, exactly. I mean,
your search is over at that point, right? I mean, that's a, that's a fail. Very easy sign to read.
(06:24):
Yep. So now if they answer or you get voicemail or something and you know, it's clearly
actually for the website, then, you know, this is a little point in their favor, but basically with
all of these checks, it's really like, they might build a little bit of credibility, a little bit
of credibility. You still have to look at the overall picture, but then there are some things
(06:45):
that it's just, nope, bad, but none of the others are really like ironclad proof that they're good.
Okay. That's, that's kind of how the way it goes, unfortunately.
Again, but we started with that big block first. We started with your very first
safety feature that was the biggest portion, right?
(07:08):
Talk about like checks one and two or?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Yeah, exactly. Well, and hopefully, I mean,
none of these really should take a long time. Like we're part of the ordering with the safe
website checklist in general is trying to kind of get the biggest bang for your buck. What are some
quick things you can check? I love it, man. Okay. So to our listeners, these are quick things you can
(07:31):
check. I love it. Yes. Yeah. So obviously, as you know, probably I can't remember for that one,
but some scams are going to have working phone numbers, right? Okay. Okay. Right. That makes
sense. Just depends on how deep the scam is, how it's a long scam, short scam, what exactly the
nature is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And also I would say if they don't have a phone number, it doesn't
(08:01):
necessarily mean that they're not a legitimate business, but generally speaking for a shopping
website specifically, I would hope they have a phone number most of the time, especially if they're at
all big, you know? Right. Right. Right.
I mean, for some non-shopping websites, like, you know, our website, makaniamason.com, I don't have a
(08:26):
phone number listed there because I'd get a lot of spam and, and that's an obstacle obviously for
shopping websites, but which is why if they're small enough, like mom and pop shop, I've bought
some good stuff from smaller shops. It could be okay. But if it's a big one, they absolutely should
have a phone number. So ultimately there's some judgment call you have to make yourself. Is this
(08:51):
the kind of place that should have a phone number listed? Yeah. And it's one that people overlook a
lot because even if it's big, most people don't like these days, they just want to do stuff on the
internet. They don't want to talk to a human so they don't even check. Right. I wouldn't have even
thought of it to be Frank. Yeah. I know. I even thought of checking a website and saying,
(09:13):
is this valid based off of, is there a good working phone number? I mean, it makes perfect sense,
but yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's why it's, it's kind of like one of those obvious things, but
that gets overlooked so easily. Yeah. So method number two is social media.
(09:38):
And because there's, you know, depends on the brand again, but some of them have a lot of social
media and, you know, not every website needs one, but it is something that again, can help establish
credibility. Right. Um, one note on here, just like with the phone call with any of these, you know,
they could put a little social media icon on there and a lot of people might never click through them
(10:02):
and, you know, it makes them look legitimate, just very surface layer, smoke and mirrors. Right.
Right. So you got to click on there and check their social media, see if it's real, see if it's alive,
you know, are there recent posts? Are there people interacting with them? You know? Yeah. And
obviously the law makes total sense. Right. And it's pretty quick and easy really to click through
(10:25):
there. It's just, but they're the things that, you know, we expect to see and can just easily,
oh yeah, they look legitimate. They've got all the right, you know, things in place.
Yeah. Yeah. I can think of a small mom and pop shop that I absolutely love that they're huge now,
(10:46):
but they were just a little mom and pop shop, really boutique and
they, they crushed it on their social media. And so that's what gave, that's actually what caught my
eye. And it was so many people saying, I loved your stuff. That was this great purchase.
Da, da, da, da, da. Thank you for the customer service. It was so many good reviews on their
(11:09):
social media that I was like, but that said, I did go to their storefront first, their little tiny
storefront first. Yeah. Well, and obviously if you can go to a physical place, that's the,
that's the best of all. But.
Is it any surprise that my daughters, you know, have, my wife had said, Ooh, check this new place
(11:30):
out. Yeah. You know, of course. Yeah. But you know, social media that, you know, like I said,
that influenced your decision a lot too. And in general, social media is much harder to fake than
just reviews they post on their website and things like that. So, you know, it can tell you a lot.
Method number three, it's a little less common one, but it's, it's increasingly common these days,
(11:56):
especially with AI. And that is late live chat, you know, a little, usually most of the time in the
bottom right-hand corner, a little pop-up. And, but especially with scam websites, those often are
not actually truly live chats with AI. It's, you know, you interact with an AI bot. Sometimes they're
(12:16):
transparent about that fact. Sometimes they try to pretend it's a person depends on how scammy it
is. Right. So it's not like a strong favor, you know, strong, like strong indicator, but, you know,
I put it as a small point in their favor if they've, if they've got that. Okay. And if you can interact
(12:38):
with one and you, you know, you think it's a human, but again, the more AI progresses, the harder
that's going to be, uh, to tell if it's a real person. Yeah. Right. Unless you ask them just
something off the wall or whatever. There's, there's probably some good tricks there, but
anyway, we won't go down that rabbit hole for now. So the last method is email. Right now, I mean,
(13:05):
this is kind of a dull one too, but I mean, they absolutely should have an email address
or a, you know, a contact us page. And if they don't have this or it, or if it's all they have,
I personally would steer clear. Like if they have no other, if it's a shopping website and they have
nothing besides an email to contact them, I don't know. That's a pretty bad sign to me. If they don't
(13:29):
have a phone number, they don't have social media, they don't have a forum, they don't have live chat,
they have only email. That's pretty minimal. Okay. And you know, again, there's some judgment
here, depends on the bigger picture. But for me, part of it too, is not just like, okay, is it a
scam? But I mean, I'm, I'm looking for overall business quality. Right. And you know, in general,
(13:53):
like, I mean, I hope not to have any issues, but if you can't contact anybody, I don't know,
partly depends on how much money you're spending too. And whatever there's factors. But anyway,
it's, it's kind of a, at least for me personally, a bad sign. If the only thing is email. Yeah.
The other thing I would say on there is if like the email address is a free one, you know,
(14:18):
Gmail or Hotmail rather than a business one that matches their website. Yeah. Again,
not absolutely a deal breaker, but if they can't fork out the cash or figure out the technical to
have a, you know, website brand and email address, it either means they're really, really tiny. And
you know, if you, if you know, they're a mom and pop and they're doing that, then maybe that's okay.
(14:41):
But again, in general, bad sign for my, my take. Yeah.
So, um, so then, you know, you take, you take all those together and look at the bigger picture,
because again, most reputable shopping websites are going to have multiple viable communication
(15:05):
methods. And the bigger, the bigger they are, the more obviously that should be the case.
Right.
Right. And then this is the stage that once you've checked them out, depending on how you're feeling,
maybe you actually want to get an answer. Maybe you send them an email, maybe you post on their
social media, interact with them. Right. Because again, you know, going back to the quality, like
(15:32):
I want to, you know, it's going to be a vote in their favor if they, if they respond quickly,
if they respond, you know, with something useful. Now, maybe you don't have any questions you're
thinking of, but you can always make up, make something up. Like an easy one is, you know,
Hey, do you have any sales coming up or, you know, how much is shipping to my state or, you know,
(15:53):
whatever. I mean, there's a million stupid questions that you can ask. Right.
Well, it wouldn't be a stupid question to ask if you're asking at probing, can I get an answer?
Well, yeah. Right. Admittedly. No, it's a good question. But from their perspective,
I'm just saying like, you don't have to come up with anything fancy, I guess. Yeah. So stupid is
(16:14):
not the right word. It's more, you know, there's simple questions that you don't have to like
overthink it too much. This is something I've had a little bit with my kids in particular, where
like they grew up, you know, and they're totally into the mode of, I'm definitely not going to look
for a phone number. I don't want to talk to a human. I just want to place by order, you know?
(16:36):
And this is, this is one of my opening questions of why it gets skipped is because like, sometimes
people are reluctant to actually, you know, sure. They'll check for the communication methods,
but they don't actually want to try to get an answer. We have so much culture with the internet.
No, it's just, you're shopping. Like the whole point is you don't have to interact with people.
(16:59):
Right. It's like, I get that, but sometimes it's useful to talk to a person, you know?
Right. So, but that also does lead to the, what I mentioned about the risky, like why a scammer
might want you to contact them. Right. So, because, so say you do reach out to them and it's a total scam
(17:21):
website, then that kind of opens the door. They get, they get to know a little bit about you. They
get more of an opportunity to interact with you. Right. Right. Does that make sense?
It makes total sense. And so this is where, you know, if you haven't got to the point where you're
like, I absolutely trust that this is a legitimate business or whatever, then you got to remember and
(17:46):
keep, you know, stay very suspicious, right? Because they, if you're talking to them, they might send you
a link to click like, Oh, Hey, click on this link to get a special coupon code or whatever.
Right. Yeah. And I mean, in an automated system, you might do that and they might send, you know,
you sign up your email address. So, I mean, this can happen other ways and you got to, you know,
(18:06):
be careful of that too. Right. But it's just, once you start talking to a person, all of a sudden,
normally by default, our trust level is going to go up a little bit.
Yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah. But even if we get a link and we have questions about
that link, we could probably get some answers about that link, right? Yeah. Do you know what
(18:30):
I'm setting you up for? With linklantern? Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, absolutely. That's it.
It's a good call. It's always linklantern.com. Go throw it in, go throw it in there and it can help
you determine if that's a safe one. And for example, if it, you know, a simple test there
would be, does that link resolve? Does it like, does it match the website? That was my whole point.
(18:56):
Right? Yeah. Yeah. That was kind of a good, simple sanity check there.
Right. Good call.
We got your back already. We were ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Go to linklantern.com. Check out those links,
light them up. Yep. Yeah. No, good, good reminder about that. You know, and if they're talking to
(19:20):
you, they might also ask you for credit card information. Right. Right. And obviously,
if you're shopping at a place, ultimately you're going to, and some places even, it's not real common,
but you know, you, you, you give credit card information over the phone, but yeah, it's
just, anyway, just keep in mind just because you're talking to a human doesn't mean it's
(19:44):
legitimate. Right.
That's, that's the main lesson to really remember. And if you have any concerns, like you're like,
you know, I'm not good at telling if somebody's tricking me or whatever. Right. Like have your,
have your protection partner there participating with you. Yeah. Lot less likely that he's going
to trick both of you. Right. You know? Right. So, um, I think, yeah, I think that's really it.
(20:16):
Um, those are the four methods, uh, the reason why I get skipped kind of the risk,
talking to us, potentially talking to the scammer and, uh, oh yeah, actually the one other note,
I guess just kind of as, and this is pretty generic advice, but when you are talking to them,
you know, think about what they're saying. Are they pushy or helpful? Yeah. You know,
(20:39):
specific or vague, you know, and hopefully you can trust your gut or as I like to say,
you know, your spidey sense. Right. Um, but again, you know, like I said, with the protection
partner, um, but those are some of the basic ones. Usually if they're a scammer that almost
universally, they're going to be pushy, like that one kind of simple litmus test. And frankly,
(21:04):
from my perspective, if, if somebody's on a shopping website and I'm talking to them and
they're pushy, even if they're not a scammer, I generally want to walk away in any way, you know?
Yeah. So I have one question. Yeah, please. Before we get to our, you know, cause we're going to have
a call to action, I'm sure. But before we get there, I have one question. Would it be best
(21:30):
if we're going to use linklantern? I'm going to put that as a caveat. We're going to use linklantern
to test all links. Would it be best to just try and get them to send us a link?
You know, if they're trying to push for payment and stuff.
That's an interesting, interesting idea.
(21:53):
You know, and then I can just blow it up in linklantern.
Yeah. I mean, you know, it's not an unreasonable strategy. I mean, normally I, so the thing is,
except that like, it would be just kind of weird for them to send a link in general, I think.
Oh, okay.
Right. Because normally like their whole point of their website is built to take payments and stuff.
(22:16):
Like normally you don't have to. The only reason why you'd get anything different is like,
if you signed up for, you know, they want your email address and we'll send you a coupon code.
Right?
Right.
But usually that's something that you can copy and paste like a code into when you're doing
checkout or whatever. Right? There's not even usually a link necessarily that you have to use
or anything from it. And so, I mean, anytime they're like specifically sending you a link,
(22:41):
it's kind of like, why?
The red flag.
Yeah. I mean, I think so. I mean, I don't know. I've never actually had that specific case
happening. So I'm just kind of imagining. So what if a scammer is, you know, you're talking
to a scammer, what might they do? Right. They might ask you for some information. They might send
you a link that, you know, to get you to click on it, to open up the door to more bad stuff.
(23:04):
Right. What? What's the.
I'm just laughing at myself. Remember my scam story?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. One of the first things they did is sent me a link.
Oh, OK. Yeah. But they didn't you didn't ever. I mean, I don't know. Did they get malware onto
(23:26):
your system? I never click it, luckily.
Oh, OK. Right. So, I mean, maybe that was part of it.
You know, I don't know the depths of that particular scam. They stayed around for a while.
So but I mean, malware might have been in their bag of tricks, too. It's hard to say.
But.
(23:47):
Yeah. Needless to say, now that I have these episodes,
I'm not going to fall victim to a scam again.
Yeah. That actually reminds me, though, one other kind of thing, you know, a real red flag
is if they're trying to get you to use any like alternate payment methods, like most shopping
websites, what do you do? You know, you enter a credit card or you pay with PayPal.
(24:11):
You know, yeah, there's the methods that you're used to.
But scammers, they'll they like to use gift cards.
You know, you got to pay with gift cards because you can't, you know, you can't charge those back.
Right. OK.
The money's gone. There's no recourse.
Or they want you to pay with
Zelle because
(24:32):
the environments are changing.
But Zelle is one we've talked about, which I love,
but only with somebody you absolutely know and trust.
because, again, there's no chargeback system, at least last I knew.
OK.
And crypto, which I mean, I know is a little bit more rare, but it's
I know a lot of even non-techies these days who have some crypto and like to use it.
(24:55):
And anyway, that's also one.
There's no recourse.
So if there's if there's no method for you to get your money back, if it's a scam,
you know, don't do it.
Yeah.
Uh, so anyway, that's
so that's a good last point.
I like it.
Yeah.
(25:16):
Dude, what's our call to action?
Simple.
Just try what we've been talking about today.
Pick it, you know, and go to it just like a trusted shopping website,
unless you happen to have one that you need to vet right now.
But check the contact methods they offer.
Is there a phone number, a real social media presence?
(25:37):
Maybe a live chat, you know, just get curious and kind of explore.
So that way, when you're on a new site, you you've kind of got a baseline to compare it to.
Right.
These are some shopping websites that I've worked with.
This is what their suite of communication methods they offer.
And I can compare, you know, yeah.
That makes total sense.
(25:58):
That's doable.
So and you know, like you said, you don't even think about a phone number.
So check, you know, like, especially smaller ones.
I mean, obviously, we know Amazon's gonna have a phone number, right?
But some of these smaller places check, you know, hey, do they have a phone number?
Right.
You know?
Yeah.
Because they're, they're kind of quaint in some ways, but they're, they're useful.
(26:20):
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
So awesome.
Should I tease them about next week?
Absolutely.
Okay, so just so you know, this is going to wrap up our safety website checklist for now, at least.
Yeah.
You know, we always keep that door open, because like I said, there's always things that are evolving, and we're always going to add to it.
(26:42):
So that said, in next week's episodes, we're shifting gears to tackle a sneaky problem, shopping subscriptions.
If you've ever signed up for a free trial and gotten, forgotten to cancel, you'll want to catch this one.
Trust me, I'm in on this episode, because I've forgotten to cancel lots of subscriptions, especially lots of free trials.
(27:09):
Yeah.
Okay, what?
Yeah.
Amen.
Yeah.
Okay, man.
I liked that episode.
You left me feeling positive, especially when we were done.
Okay, yeah, I would say, right, I'm glad we almost forgot, like, we didn't, we ever, didn't ever come back to, like, the whole first thing of, you know, you're a little bit scared, how you feel now, gauge your mood.
(27:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you got me there, man.
I'm like, okay.
Good.
Because really, there was just that one scammer interaction that was the fear point, you know?
And, yeah.
Protection partner is really the main thing.
If there's still fear in, you know, a listener's mind, just make sure you utilize that.
That's kind of the cure for that sort of problem.
(27:55):
Because it's understandable.
Yeah.
So, okay.
All right.
Yes.
I'm ready.
You ready?
Are you ready to take action and wondering where to start?
Get my Bulletproof My Identity Starter Kit for free.
The seven most vital layers of protection everyone needs.
I'll send you one step at a time and help you if you get stuck.
(28:20):
Just go to bulletproofmyid.com and enter your name and email, and I will send you the first step.
Again, that's bulletproofmyid.com.
Welcome to Super Simple Security Principles. I'm Nick Jackson, and as much as I want to love
(00:07):
computers, they don't love me back. I'm learning how to stay safe from my good buddy and master
guardian, Makani Mason. Woo! Shout out to you, buddy. He wrote his first computer program when
he was six, setting his fate as a future child prodigy, and here you are. You know,
(00:28):
congratulations. You're still rolling, man. The old heads that stopped you. He spends his time
teaching me specifically and people like me how to stay safe ahead of the digital threats and the
bad guys. Hallelujah. He keeps it simple. We love it. Learn along each week with me. I'll ask questions
(00:49):
and make sure he keeps it simple and relevant and super simple for us. That's the key, right? If I
can do it, you can do it. Let's dive right in. This is episode 75, how to fix all the problems with
all shnikes. It's okay. Well, listeners, guess what? We're rolling with it. Oh, yeah. It's all good.
(01:17):
That's a big screw up. This is episode 74, safe website check three. Can you get an answer? All
right. Look, our master guardian didn't give me a lot of notes for this question. So to make it fun,
(01:38):
I'm going to ask this. What is the answer? I get the answer to.
Yeah. We will definitely answer that. Yeah. Okay. Here are the questions we'll be answering in
today's episode. What does this check sometime? Why does this check sometimes get skipped?
(02:02):
What's one super simple way to spot a fake shopping website? This really intrigued me.
Why might a scammer want you to contact them? Which red flags in a reply should make you walk away?
Dude, we got some heavy ones, man. How are you going to make this episode light? Like,
(02:26):
it's kind of scared me a little bit when I first read it. Like, just to get this introduction started
right. Like, I was like, wait, it gets skipped. Okay. He gives us hope. One simple way to spot a
fake website. And then he goes, why am I a scammer? I want you to contact them. I'm like, great. I'm
(02:48):
going to contact a scammer by accident. I know this is going to happen. And then you bring us back with
the, which red flags in a reply should make you walk away. So interesting. Yeah. I was like, I was
like, man, that's what I was about to say. Whenever I feel this way, you usually help me see the light
(03:20):
and see, okay, we're okay. Because you've got a solution, right? Yeah. Well, and yeah, I mean,
and I guess that's, you know, in some ways, the balance we try to try to strike, right? We've
talked about this before wanting to be aware. So, you know, a little bit of healthy fear, right?
Healthy awareness at least, but then hopefully have the tools to manage that fear and mitigate
(03:47):
the risks that causes the fear, you know? Yeah. So, okay. So where do we start? I took a long
introduction time, so I apologize. Oh, no, no, it was good. So, well, so the number three in there
is, you know, we've taught, we had two episodes before where we were talking about our safe website
(04:09):
checklist, right? So check number one was, is the website less than a year old? We did that in
episode 70. Check number two was, what does Trustpilot say? That was last week in episode 73.
Okay. So today is check number three, and that is, can you get an answer?
(04:31):
And yes, like who you get an answer from is, you know, from the website that we're trying to evaluate,
right? Okay. That makes sense? That makes sense. So as we're evaluating,
can we get an answer from this website? Yeah. Exactly. So, and this can be done pretty quickly
(04:52):
and easily. You could, there's, I mean, there are a lot of things you can check, but there are some,
especially, and we'll get into it in just a second, that you can eliminate very quickly sometimes.
But the overall idea is to check what forms of communication they offer. And then depending on
how you feel about it, what you see there, maybe actually seek an answer to a question, like reach
(05:13):
out to them and initiate contact. Okay. But sometimes you don't need to. So there's four
methods of communication. I mean, there's lots, but these are kind of the four groupings. I put them
in the way I'm breaking it down for this purpose. So the method number one, and this is, I mean,
these come from like how I do it. Cause I have, you know, my wife, kids, friends regularly, like,
(05:38):
Hey, you know, what do you think about this, you know, shopping website? Like I get this. So
right. You know, um, I wouldn't be shocked if I've sent you one or two.
Yeah, exactly. So one of the, one of the quick ways, and obviously this is item number three on the
checklist, but within, once I get to this stage of communication, I just check for a phone number.
(06:01):
Okay. Right. And if they have one, just give it a call real quick. And I've had plenty of times where
it's just disconnected, you know, so not a good sign, right? Not a good sign. Well, exactly. I mean,
your search is over at that point, right? I mean, that's a, that's a fail. Very easy sign to read.
(06:24):
Yep. So now if they answer or you get voicemail or something and you know, it's clearly
actually for the website, then, you know, this is a little point in their favor, but basically with
all of these checks, it's really like, they might build a little bit of credibility, a little bit
of credibility. You still have to look at the overall picture, but then there are some things
(06:45):
that it's just, nope, bad, but none of the others are really like ironclad proof that they're good.
Okay. That's, that's kind of how the way it goes, unfortunately.
Again, but we started with that big block first. We started with your very first
safety feature that was the biggest portion, right?
(07:08):
Talk about like checks one and two or?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Yeah, exactly. Well, and hopefully, I mean,
none of these really should take a long time. Like we're part of the ordering with the safe
website checklist in general is trying to kind of get the biggest bang for your buck. What are some
quick things you can check? I love it, man. Okay. So to our listeners, these are quick things you can
(07:31):
check. I love it. Yes. Yeah. So obviously, as you know, probably I can't remember for that one,
but some scams are going to have working phone numbers, right? Okay. Okay. Right. That makes
sense. Just depends on how deep the scam is, how it's a long scam, short scam, what exactly the
nature is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And also I would say if they don't have a phone number, it doesn't
(08:01):
necessarily mean that they're not a legitimate business, but generally speaking for a shopping
website specifically, I would hope they have a phone number most of the time, especially if they're at
all big, you know? Right. Right. Right.
I mean, for some non-shopping websites, like, you know, our website, makaniamason.com, I don't have a
(08:26):
phone number listed there because I'd get a lot of spam and, and that's an obstacle obviously for
shopping websites, but which is why if they're small enough, like mom and pop shop, I've bought
some good stuff from smaller shops. It could be okay. But if it's a big one, they absolutely should
have a phone number. So ultimately there's some judgment call you have to make yourself. Is this
(08:51):
the kind of place that should have a phone number listed? Yeah. And it's one that people overlook a
lot because even if it's big, most people don't like these days, they just want to do stuff on the
internet. They don't want to talk to a human so they don't even check. Right. I wouldn't have even
thought of it to be Frank. Yeah. I know. I even thought of checking a website and saying,
(09:13):
is this valid based off of, is there a good working phone number? I mean, it makes perfect sense,
but yeah. Yeah, exactly. That's why it's, it's kind of like one of those obvious things, but
that gets overlooked so easily. Yeah. So method number two is social media.
(09:38):
And because there's, you know, depends on the brand again, but some of them have a lot of social
media and, you know, not every website needs one, but it is something that again, can help establish
credibility. Right. Um, one note on here, just like with the phone call with any of these, you know,
they could put a little social media icon on there and a lot of people might never click through them
(10:02):
and, you know, it makes them look legitimate, just very surface layer, smoke and mirrors. Right.
Right. So you got to click on there and check their social media, see if it's real, see if it's alive,
you know, are there recent posts? Are there people interacting with them? You know? Yeah. And
obviously the law makes total sense. Right. And it's pretty quick and easy really to click through
(10:25):
there. It's just, but they're the things that, you know, we expect to see and can just easily,
oh yeah, they look legitimate. They've got all the right, you know, things in place.
Yeah. Yeah. I can think of a small mom and pop shop that I absolutely love that they're huge now,
(10:46):
but they were just a little mom and pop shop, really boutique and
they, they crushed it on their social media. And so that's what gave, that's actually what caught my
eye. And it was so many people saying, I loved your stuff. That was this great purchase.
Da, da, da, da, da. Thank you for the customer service. It was so many good reviews on their
(11:09):
social media that I was like, but that said, I did go to their storefront first, their little tiny
storefront first. Yeah. Well, and obviously if you can go to a physical place, that's the,
that's the best of all. But.
Is it any surprise that my daughters, you know, have, my wife had said, Ooh, check this new place
(11:30):
out. Yeah. You know, of course. Yeah. But you know, social media that, you know, like I said,
that influenced your decision a lot too. And in general, social media is much harder to fake than
just reviews they post on their website and things like that. So, you know, it can tell you a lot.
Method number three, it's a little less common one, but it's, it's increasingly common these days,
(11:56):
especially with AI. And that is late live chat, you know, a little, usually most of the time in the
bottom right-hand corner, a little pop-up. And, but especially with scam websites, those often are
not actually truly live chats with AI. It's, you know, you interact with an AI bot. Sometimes they're
(12:16):
transparent about that fact. Sometimes they try to pretend it's a person depends on how scammy it
is. Right. So it's not like a strong favor, you know, strong, like strong indicator, but, you know,
I put it as a small point in their favor if they've, if they've got that. Okay. And if you can interact
(12:38):
with one and you, you know, you think it's a human, but again, the more AI progresses, the harder
that's going to be, uh, to tell if it's a real person. Yeah. Right. Unless you ask them just
something off the wall or whatever. There's, there's probably some good tricks there, but
anyway, we won't go down that rabbit hole for now. So the last method is email. Right now, I mean,
(13:05):
this is kind of a dull one too, but I mean, they absolutely should have an email address
or a, you know, a contact us page. And if they don't have this or it, or if it's all they have,
I personally would steer clear. Like if they have no other, if it's a shopping website and they have
nothing besides an email to contact them, I don't know. That's a pretty bad sign to me. If they don't
(13:29):
have a phone number, they don't have social media, they don't have a forum, they don't have live chat,
they have only email. That's pretty minimal. Okay. And you know, again, there's some judgment
here, depends on the bigger picture. But for me, part of it too, is not just like, okay, is it a
scam? But I mean, I'm, I'm looking for overall business quality. Right. And you know, in general,
(13:53):
like, I mean, I hope not to have any issues, but if you can't contact anybody, I don't know,
partly depends on how much money you're spending too. And whatever there's factors. But anyway,
it's, it's kind of a, at least for me personally, a bad sign. If the only thing is email. Yeah.
The other thing I would say on there is if like the email address is a free one, you know,
(14:18):
Gmail or Hotmail rather than a business one that matches their website. Yeah. Again,
not absolutely a deal breaker, but if they can't fork out the cash or figure out the technical to
have a, you know, website brand and email address, it either means they're really, really tiny. And
you know, if you, if you know, they're a mom and pop and they're doing that, then maybe that's okay.
(14:41):
But again, in general, bad sign for my, my take. Yeah.
So, um, so then, you know, you take, you take all those together and look at the bigger picture,
because again, most reputable shopping websites are going to have multiple viable communication
(15:05):
methods. And the bigger, the bigger they are, the more obviously that should be the case.
Right.
Right. And then this is the stage that once you've checked them out, depending on how you're feeling,
maybe you actually want to get an answer. Maybe you send them an email, maybe you post on their
social media, interact with them. Right. Because again, you know, going back to the quality, like
(15:32):
I want to, you know, it's going to be a vote in their favor if they, if they respond quickly,
if they respond, you know, with something useful. Now, maybe you don't have any questions you're
thinking of, but you can always make up, make something up. Like an easy one is, you know,
Hey, do you have any sales coming up or, you know, how much is shipping to my state or, you know,
(15:53):
whatever. I mean, there's a million stupid questions that you can ask. Right.
Well, it wouldn't be a stupid question to ask if you're asking at probing, can I get an answer?
Well, yeah. Right. Admittedly. No, it's a good question. But from their perspective,
I'm just saying like, you don't have to come up with anything fancy, I guess. Yeah. So stupid is
(16:14):
not the right word. It's more, you know, there's simple questions that you don't have to like
overthink it too much. This is something I've had a little bit with my kids in particular, where
like they grew up, you know, and they're totally into the mode of, I'm definitely not going to look
for a phone number. I don't want to talk to a human. I just want to place by order, you know?
(16:36):
And this is, this is one of my opening questions of why it gets skipped is because like, sometimes
people are reluctant to actually, you know, sure. They'll check for the communication methods,
but they don't actually want to try to get an answer. We have so much culture with the internet.
No, it's just, you're shopping. Like the whole point is you don't have to interact with people.
(16:59):
Right. It's like, I get that, but sometimes it's useful to talk to a person, you know?
Right. So, but that also does lead to the, what I mentioned about the risky, like why a scammer
might want you to contact them. Right. So, because, so say you do reach out to them and it's a total scam
(17:21):
website, then that kind of opens the door. They get, they get to know a little bit about you. They
get more of an opportunity to interact with you. Right. Right. Does that make sense?
It makes total sense. And so this is where, you know, if you haven't got to the point where you're
like, I absolutely trust that this is a legitimate business or whatever, then you got to remember and
(17:46):
keep, you know, stay very suspicious, right? Because they, if you're talking to them, they might send you
a link to click like, Oh, Hey, click on this link to get a special coupon code or whatever.
Right. Yeah. And I mean, in an automated system, you might do that and they might send, you know,
you sign up your email address. So, I mean, this can happen other ways and you got to, you know,
(18:06):
be careful of that too. Right. But it's just, once you start talking to a person, all of a sudden,
normally by default, our trust level is going to go up a little bit.
Yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah. But even if we get a link and we have questions about
that link, we could probably get some answers about that link, right? Yeah. Do you know what
(18:30):
I'm setting you up for? With linklantern? Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No, absolutely. That's it.
It's a good call. It's always linklantern.com. Go throw it in, go throw it in there and it can help
you determine if that's a safe one. And for example, if it, you know, a simple test there
would be, does that link resolve? Does it like, does it match the website? That was my whole point.
(18:56):
Right? Yeah. Yeah. That was kind of a good, simple sanity check there.
Right. Good call.
We got your back already. We were ahead. Yeah. Yeah. Go to linklantern.com. Check out those links,
light them up. Yep. Yeah. No, good, good reminder about that. You know, and if they're talking to
(19:20):
you, they might also ask you for credit card information. Right. Right. And obviously,
if you're shopping at a place, ultimately you're going to, and some places even, it's not real common,
but you know, you, you, you give credit card information over the phone, but yeah, it's
just, anyway, just keep in mind just because you're talking to a human doesn't mean it's
(19:44):
legitimate. Right.
That's, that's the main lesson to really remember. And if you have any concerns, like you're like,
you know, I'm not good at telling if somebody's tricking me or whatever. Right. Like have your,
have your protection partner there participating with you. Yeah. Lot less likely that he's going
to trick both of you. Right. You know? Right. So, um, I think, yeah, I think that's really it.
(20:16):
Um, those are the four methods, uh, the reason why I get skipped kind of the risk,
talking to us, potentially talking to the scammer and, uh, oh yeah, actually the one other note,
I guess just kind of as, and this is pretty generic advice, but when you are talking to them,
you know, think about what they're saying. Are they pushy or helpful? Yeah. You know,
(20:39):
specific or vague, you know, and hopefully you can trust your gut or as I like to say,
you know, your spidey sense. Right. Um, but again, you know, like I said, with the protection
partner, um, but those are some of the basic ones. Usually if they're a scammer that almost
universally, they're going to be pushy, like that one kind of simple litmus test. And frankly,
(21:04):
from my perspective, if, if somebody's on a shopping website and I'm talking to them and
they're pushy, even if they're not a scammer, I generally want to walk away in any way, you know?
Yeah. So I have one question. Yeah, please. Before we get to our, you know, cause we're going to have
a call to action, I'm sure. But before we get there, I have one question. Would it be best
(21:30):
if we're going to use linklantern? I'm going to put that as a caveat. We're going to use linklantern
to test all links. Would it be best to just try and get them to send us a link?
You know, if they're trying to push for payment and stuff.
That's an interesting, interesting idea.
(21:53):
You know, and then I can just blow it up in linklantern.
Yeah. I mean, you know, it's not an unreasonable strategy. I mean, normally I, so the thing is,
except that like, it would be just kind of weird for them to send a link in general, I think.
Oh, okay.
Right. Because normally like their whole point of their website is built to take payments and stuff.
(22:16):
Like normally you don't have to. The only reason why you'd get anything different is like,
if you signed up for, you know, they want your email address and we'll send you a coupon code.
Right?
Right.
But usually that's something that you can copy and paste like a code into when you're doing
checkout or whatever. Right? There's not even usually a link necessarily that you have to use
or anything from it. And so, I mean, anytime they're like specifically sending you a link,
(22:41):
it's kind of like, why?
The red flag.
Yeah. I mean, I think so. I mean, I don't know. I've never actually had that specific case
happening. So I'm just kind of imagining. So what if a scammer is, you know, you're talking
to a scammer, what might they do? Right. They might ask you for some information. They might send
you a link that, you know, to get you to click on it, to open up the door to more bad stuff.
(23:04):
Right. What? What's the.
I'm just laughing at myself. Remember my scam story?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. One of the first things they did is sent me a link.
Oh, OK. Yeah. But they didn't you didn't ever. I mean, I don't know. Did they get malware onto
(23:26):
your system? I never click it, luckily.
Oh, OK. Right. So, I mean, maybe that was part of it.
You know, I don't know the depths of that particular scam. They stayed around for a while.
So but I mean, malware might have been in their bag of tricks, too. It's hard to say.
But.
(23:47):
Yeah. Needless to say, now that I have these episodes,
I'm not going to fall victim to a scam again.
Yeah. That actually reminds me, though, one other kind of thing, you know, a real red flag
is if they're trying to get you to use any like alternate payment methods, like most shopping
websites, what do you do? You know, you enter a credit card or you pay with PayPal.
(24:11):
You know, yeah, there's the methods that you're used to.
But scammers, they'll they like to use gift cards.
You know, you got to pay with gift cards because you can't, you know, you can't charge those back.
Right. OK.
The money's gone. There's no recourse.
Or they want you to pay with
Zelle because
(24:32):
the environments are changing.
But Zelle is one we've talked about, which I love,
but only with somebody you absolutely know and trust.
because, again, there's no chargeback system, at least last I knew.
OK.
And crypto, which I mean, I know is a little bit more rare, but it's
I know a lot of even non-techies these days who have some crypto and like to use it.
(24:55):
And anyway, that's also one.
There's no recourse.
So if there's if there's no method for you to get your money back, if it's a scam,
you know, don't do it.
Yeah.
Uh, so anyway, that's
so that's a good last point.
I like it.
Yeah.
(25:16):
Dude, what's our call to action?
Simple.
Just try what we've been talking about today.
Pick it, you know, and go to it just like a trusted shopping website,
unless you happen to have one that you need to vet right now.
But check the contact methods they offer.
Is there a phone number, a real social media presence?
(25:37):
Maybe a live chat, you know, just get curious and kind of explore.
So that way, when you're on a new site, you you've kind of got a baseline to compare it to.
Right.
These are some shopping websites that I've worked with.
This is what their suite of communication methods they offer.
And I can compare, you know, yeah.
That makes total sense.
(25:58):
That's doable.
So and you know, like you said, you don't even think about a phone number.
So check, you know, like, especially smaller ones.
I mean, obviously, we know Amazon's gonna have a phone number, right?
But some of these smaller places check, you know, hey, do they have a phone number?
Right.
You know?
Yeah.
Because they're, they're kind of quaint in some ways, but they're, they're useful.
(26:20):
Oh, absolutely.
Yeah.
So awesome.
Should I tease them about next week?
Absolutely.
Okay, so just so you know, this is going to wrap up our safety website checklist for now, at least.
Yeah.
You know, we always keep that door open, because like I said, there's always things that are evolving, and we're always going to add to it.
(26:42):
So that said, in next week's episodes, we're shifting gears to tackle a sneaky problem, shopping subscriptions.
If you've ever signed up for a free trial and gotten, forgotten to cancel, you'll want to catch this one.
Trust me, I'm in on this episode, because I've forgotten to cancel lots of subscriptions, especially lots of free trials.
(27:09):
Yeah.
Okay, what?
Yeah.
Amen.
Yeah.
Okay, man.
I liked that episode.
You left me feeling positive, especially when we were done.
Okay, yeah, I would say, right, I'm glad we almost forgot, like, we didn't, we ever, didn't ever come back to, like, the whole first thing of, you know, you're a little bit scared, how you feel now, gauge your mood.
(27:33):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you got me there, man.
I'm like, okay.
Good.
Because really, there was just that one scammer interaction that was the fear point, you know?
And, yeah.
Protection partner is really the main thing.
If there's still fear in, you know, a listener's mind, just make sure you utilize that.
That's kind of the cure for that sort of problem.
(27:55):
Because it's understandable.
Yeah.
So, okay.
All right.
Yes.
I'm ready.
You ready?
Are you ready to take action and wondering where to start?
Get my Bulletproof My Identity Starter Kit for free.
The seven most vital layers of protection everyone needs.
I'll send you one step at a time and help you if you get stuck.
(28:20):
Just go to bulletproofmyid.com and enter your name and email, and I will send you the first step.
Again, that's bulletproofmyid.com.
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