I have already discussed about how does a fake airdrop work and the process of stealing keys. Today I thought to help you to identify fake websites by their URLs.
Before starting the discussion, let me show you some screenshots. These were the famous fake airdrops that published during the last six months. Take a moment to identify common things in the screenshots.
Tips to Identify a Fake Websites
01. URL
The best way to identify a fake website is URL. Let's have a look..
- Swapped letters
First most of the fake websites are hosted with similar URL to the real ones. The URL can be very close to the real one at the first sight and it is achieved by swapping characters or using similar characters.
Ex : www.amazon.com
vs www.amezon.com
Because of that, reading the URL is very important. Always try to keep awareness about official websites. Following are a few fake links I have seen relevant to TRON and Steemit:
If you remember the recent Just
and Zerion
airdrops, both are built on the same URL. They have changed the design of the front end from one site to another. So a fake airdrop hosted in can appear again with another brand name.
- Dirty URL strings.
You can see is not a proper string or genuine company name. Most fake websites appear with dirty-looking URLs. Also the domain of the URL.
The following login screen is from the Zerion
airdrop. You can see the SteemConnect
login but the UI is hivesigner
and also the real domain of SteemConnect
is .com
and here it is .xyz
. You have to pay attention to the whole URL
- Https vs http
Make sure to check that the address starts with https://
rather than just http://
. Do not enter payment information on any site that isn’t secure.
https
means the connection between you and the server is secure from third-party snoopers. So never submit your keys, passwords, and bank details to unsecured websites (sites without https://
).
But that doesn't me all https://
sites are secured. All HTTP websites are unsafe and not all HTTPS websites are safe. Even fake websites can obtain SSL certification to maintain the website as HTTPS.
Final words,
- First check whether the URL has correct spellings
- Check the domain of the URL
- Always use official websites rather than clicking external links. You can find some useful steemit links at
steemworld.com
- Check whether the content of the website matches with the URL
- Never trust news that is not coming from official channels.