Fake Shop Check

Fake Shop Check: review an unfamiliar online store

Check an unfamiliar seller before ordering. The Fake Shop Check covers 15 warning signals about seller details, prices, payment and contact. Inspect the shop yourself to receive a risk rating with your selected warnings. The shop name is only a report heading; the tool never visits that address.

How it works

Open the store separately. Check seller details and withdrawal information, compare prices and inspect available payment methods. Tick only warnings you find, then click Calculate risk. Research unclear details; an empty box does not confirm safety.

Each tick adds one point. A missing or incomplete legal notice, extreme prices, advance-only payment and a different payment recipient each add two. Example: the legal notice is missing and the store accepts only advance payment. That gives 2 + 2 = 4 points and elevated risk. The bands are 0 to 2 low, 3 to 6 elevated and 7 or more high. The maximum is 19 points.

What it can and cannot do

The checklist organises observations, not proof of fraud. It does not inspect domain age or reviews automatically. The score is not a fraud probability or validated prediction. A foreign seller, missing social accounts or another payment recipient can have legitimate explanations.

Compare the company name, address and registration number from the legal notice with the German company register. North Data can help with secondary research. Not every seller needs an entry, and criminals can copy genuine company details. Check the consumer centre fake-shop list too. No match is not an all-clear.

Why local processing in the browser

Your shop name and ticks stay in your browser. The checklist keeps no history and sends nothing to a checking server. After loading, it works offline. Visiting stores or external registers needs internet access. You open those websites yourself; the tool does not pass them your entries.

Creative uses

• Review an unfamiliar seller before buying an expensive device.
• Compare warning signals across shops instead of choosing by price alone.
• Work through a suspicious offer together with a family member.
• Use the checklist to discuss consumer protection in a classroom.
• Keep a screenshot of the result with your shopping notes.

A small contribution to climate protection

The average reference of 1.76 g CO2 per page view is not a measurement of this checklist. According to the IEA, data centres consumed 415 TWh in 2024. Local calculation avoids extra server requests and repeated transfers of your entries, but establishes no specific carbon saving.

Frequently asked questions