Nancy Tangler

These websites will actually tell you how old the domain name is.

It could be legitimately a brand new business or it might be a scam or fraudster taking advantage of holidays.

So it'll also tell you whether or not security companies or consumers have reported issues with these sites.

And of course, old school still rules.

Better Business Bureau is a great place to check on a domain name as well.

Yeah, this is the tough part.

And I agree with you.

I only use a credit card when I am shopping online.

I do not use my debit card.

I don't use gift cards to shop online.

What's happening is a lot of these scam sites and fraud sites will say things like, we only accept Venmo or Zelle.

We only accept Zelle.

gift cards.

We only accept wire transfers.

So they might say, well, for this to work, we're international.

We have to have a wire transfer.

These are red flags.

When a merchant tells you they will only accept those forms of payment and they won't accept credit card, chances are you're dealing with a fraudster because they know the credit card companies will actually come after them and shut them down.

So they want you to use these other forms of payment.

Yeah, so if you see things like 70 to 90% off during the holiday season, that is typically a red flag.