Is ScamAdviser legit? Yes, with a BUT! A legit company is a company that is lawful and real, and ScamAdviser fits into that category. So what is the BUT there for? Our little time with the platform revealed something fishy, and the platform seemed to have failed to address it. Why?
First, let's discuss what we found, and we may as well get the answers to why that is. The key focus is on how reliable ScamAdviser is and to what extent you should rely on the platform.
A quick note: If you've ever received a phone call and wondered who called you, our recent article, “Who called me from this number number?” takes a deep dive into how to find that out. Feel free to check it out.
What Is ScamAdviser?
ScamAdviser is a popular website where people visit at ScamAdviser.com to find out if a website is legit or a scam. Their goal is to protect consumers.
The story goes that a young man called Marc got scammed while trying to purchase golf clubs and got fake ones without the ability to receive refunds. With that experience, the idea of ScamAdviser was conceived and given birth to in 2012.
According to the platform, they are registered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and are a member of an anti-scam group called the Global Anti Scam Alliance (GASA).
The platform has a lot of sites listed on it and claims to have millions of monthly users, which is a massive success. With that, they offer services that are security-related to protect consumers and businesses from scams and fraud.
What Does ScamAdviser Offer?
The following are services offered by ScamAdviser, including:
Website checking tools, including browser extensions, mobile application, and their default website trust scoring system. This system is built upon an algorithm that uses over 40 data sources to check and produce a trust rating for a website.
Brand protection services, including trust score API for businesses, business info verification, and user protection through their white label solutions.
ScamAdviser also offers a manual verification service for people or businesses negatively affected by their automated trust scoring system, which could falsely conclude a platform is a scam when the reverse is the case. Here is where it's fishy; they do it for a fee, and it's very cheap for those who can afford it.
They charge around 18 dollars for 48 hours of verification per site and about 28 dollars for 12 hours verification per site. Sounds good to you? But how did we know about it?
We decided to visit them, but this time, we did so to find out more about the platform. We checked our website on the platform, and the scores came back with a rating below 40 and a claim that it “might be a scam,” according to their computer.
So, we registered on the platform, claimed the website, and verified our account with them, hoping to update more information and have the ratings improved, but to no avail. We got a "500 | SERVER ERROR" on attempts to save the information provided. So what did we do?
We considered reaching out to the company by email to report the situation, but on second thought, we decided to check for ScamAdviser reviews. What we found triggered doubts and the question of legitimacy.
Is ScamAdviser Legit or a Scam?
The reviews for ScamAdviser were not looking good for a company helping people fight against scams. Several comments on Trustpilot and users from Reddit accused them of being fraudulent, citing their manual verification service, a paid service for a problem caused by their system.
Some complained that reaching out to them was useless unless you were ready to pay the fees. And then, what's bothersome is that they weren't responding to these concerns, especially from Trustpilot. So is ScamAdviser legit or a scam?
As we noted in the beginning, ScamAdviser has a track record for helping consumers and businesses, which speaks to the legitimacy of the platform. However, people and small businesses have complained about the negative effects of their system on them.
Their resolution to charge people to solve the problem rather than implementing ways to mitigate it and responding to users' concerns makes people doubt. Below is an incredible note from Trustpilot about ScamAdviser.
What more is there to say? For us, the problem is with reliability. If you can check information about a business on the platform and be falsely informed, can you rely solely on the platform? Of course not.
Even ScamAdviser agrees with us by saying this about the results from their computer algorithm: “This means that it is wise to do your own checking before you shop or leave your contact details on this website.” But many people may not have the time to take that into account if they trust the conclusion they find on the platform.
It's indeed a concerning matter that negatively affects mostly new legit businesses, and we thought commenting on the matter would further a more careful and informed approach through the platform. Hopefully, the system gets updated. Remember, your safety comes first.
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