How to Spot a Fake Online Shop Before You Pay — and What to Do If You Already Paid

A checklist, not a safety certificate

Fake storefronts copy real brands, invent urgency, and ask for a transfer, a gift card, or a payment app that is hard to reverse. This page is a pre-payment checklist and a first-response note. It does not certify any site, and it does not replace a bank or a police report.

The Korean original organizes the work as checks before payment, then a response after a loss. That order is worth keeping in any country.

What to look at before you pay

Read the exact domain. A typo, an extra hyphen, or a public-blog subdomain is a warning. Search the shop name plus words such as 'scam' or the local equivalent, and read the date on any complaint. A site that only accepts a wire, a gift card, or a cryptocurrency transfer, when a comparable shop would offer a card or a well-known escrow, is another warning.

Reviews that are all from the same week, with the same sentences, are weaker evidence than a long, mixed record on a platform you already use. Do not treat a social-media ad alone as proof that a shop is real.

How a Korean shop is supposed to identify itself

In Korea, a mail-order or online seller is expected to show a business registration number and related disclosures that can be checked in public registers, and to offer a payment method that leaves a trail. Foreign readers buying from a Korean site can use those official registers rather than only a translated homepage. If the disclosed name and the account name do not match, stop.

In the United States, look for a physical address, a way to contact the firm, and payment through a card or a known platform that has a dispute process; the FTC is the usual federal consumer channel. In Japan, 特定商取引法 disclosures and the 国民生活センター or a local 消費生活センター are the usual checks and complaint routes. In China, a business license number and official channels such as 12315 are the places to start. In several Arab countries, a trade-license number and the national consumer or cybercrime authority are the equivalent. Use the official page, not a 'refund helper' in a chat app.

If you have already paid

Contact the bank or card issuer first, ask about a recall or a chargeback, and write down reference numbers. Keep the URL, the account, the chat, and the receipt. Then report through the official channel: in Korea, consumer counseling such as 1372 and the cybercrime route as currently published; elsewhere, the agencies named above.

Do not send more money to 'unlock' a refund. Do not install remote-access software at a stranger's request.

Sources

1. The original CampusDown post on eight checks before paying an unfamiliar shop, and on first steps after a loss.
2. Official consumer-protection pages: Korea's 1372 / Fair Trade and mail-order disclosure rules as currently published; the U.S. FTC; Japan's 国民生活センター; China's 12315 or market-regulation channels; the national consumer or cybercrime authority where you live.

Last updated: November 13, 2026