How to Ensure a Company is Legitimate

Ensuring the legitimacy of a company is crucial to avoid potential scams or fraudulent dealings.

It can be challenging to determine if a company is legitimate, but there are ways to find out before you lose personal data or money to scammers.

These include checking the website for legitimate contact information, reviewing the quality of the website, calling the local chamber of commerce, searching online for owners or employees of the company, checking the Better Business Bureau (BBB) for registration, and more. 

No Contact Info is a Red Flag 

If there is no telephone number or physical address, the company might not be legitimate. An email address isn't a reliable indicator because it's very easy to obtain. Call the number to make sure it's not fake too. Scammers will put fake numbers up to feign legitimacy.   

The lack of a physical location doesn't automatically make the company a fraud, but having a brick-and-mortar venue is a reliable sign that it isn't. If you find an address, you can visit the company onsite. 

How to Spot Phishing

You might find another location using this company's local business page. Typically, fake business web pages have broken links and hyperlinks for images, which is an indicator of phishing.

Check the Website 

If the company's website says one thing on one page and contradicts that information on another page, the company might not be genuine. Scammers are typically in a hurry, and the site is sloppy as a result. 

Read the T&Cs and privacy policy  

Check their terms and conditions and privacy policy pages for suspicious phrasing. A genuine company will always have these pages. Fraudulent businesses might also have them, but they'll be written in a way as to deter people from reading them, for example, poor formatting or confusing writing. Then, the text could be plain misspelled or grammatically incorrect. 

Search for the Company on the BBB

You can search for the business on BBB's website, which also provides information about recent fraud and scam trends. It could still be genuine if it's not listed on the BBB. If you want to make sure, you can do a free people search on someone associated with the company, like an owner or director. This will reveal whether the person is actually involved with the company and it's not just his name being used. 

Be Wary of Stock Photos or no Visuals 

Fake business referral sites typically have little content. They try to appear trustworthy by displaying the BBB logo and other legitimate-looking stickers. A huge red flag is the lack of visuals or only stock photos. A real company will show pictures of its building, employees, or products. If you only see stock photos of their products, it's best to move on. 

Find Out Who Registered the Domain 

 Finding details about the person who registered the website may be possible. Go to whois.com, a free website that can retrieve data on the entity that registered a domain name. You can also use other tools to look up domain names, but only some of them support.io and other modern top-level domains. 

You won't find the person's name and contact info if the domain was registered privately. You can check when the website expires, though. A website that was created recently but expires soon might be a cover for a scam. 

Many domains receive registration authorization from the International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). It is a great resource to establish who actually owns the website you are researching.  

Legit Organizations Provide Reliable Payment Methods 

When a company only accepts cash or checks, it's a red flag. Electronic wallets like PayPal are a safe way for online businesses to make and accept payments. Make sure your payment method of choice comes with the possibility of a refund if things go sour. You shouldn't have to provide unnecessary personal data.  

Check for an Industry Registration 

Some industries mandate businesses to register with a relevant organization. If they don't, their licenses to operate or certifications are revoked. 

National and local industry organizations can be a useful source of information. Law firms and contractor firms, for example, need to register with a valid state agency and at least one industry organization.