Buying a gun online can be a tricky business that comes with a host of problems. There are several fraudulent gun stores online and you can be easily scammed if you don’t take precautionary measures. To avoid this, the best thing to do is verify the details of the company to know if they are genuine.
Hackers and cyber criminals are little more than new age con men. And the con game is as old as time itself—people have literally been tricking one another since the beginning of time. And in the same vein as ancient mystics and old-fashioned snake oil salesmen, these con-men are after one thing: your money.
As a result, we’ve developed this list of quick tips to help you verify if an online gun store is genuine to avoid being scammed.
Read Detailed Information About the Company
Take a look on the website of the gun company to see if there are any customer reviews about them. This helps you learn more about the company details to know if they are genuine or fake.
If you can’t find reviews on the company’s website, visit a website like US Reviews. For example, if you want to buy guns from a company like Guns International, you can go through the reviews of actual customers who have purchased the product and have experience using the same. The vendor may market the product as easy to use and clean, but with customer reviews, you can gain insight into whether this marketing claim holds true.
Also, if you are uncertain, run a search for the name of the website and the words “scam” or “fake”. You’ll quickly find out if others have had bad experiences and you should steer clear.
Confirm the URL
Some fraudulent sites have URLs that look just like those of legit websites — at first glance. Before you enter any of your personal information, such as your credit card number, study the URL.
If you use a search engine to get to the site, look in the address bar to confirm that you’ve landed on the webpage you wanted.
Clark suggests that you type in the URL yourself and then make sure to check for spelling errors. Some cybercriminals set up sites that are just one letter off from real sites, hoping that you will mistype the URL.
Website Encryption Measures
When you’re buying from a secure website you will always see the following in the address bar:
A padlock (or lock) icon and https://
The padlock icon means that the site is using encrypted communications to secure any information you submit to it. The “s” in “https” also means that communications between the website and your computer or mobile are secure and encrypted. You should only buy from sites with “https” on their check-out page.
Check the Contact Page
A legitimate online gun store will have contact details on its site. If it is just a web contact form, without an address, email, and phone number you should probably be wary. All genuine online stores will be happy to help with any query you have so, if you are buying for the first time, do get in touch to see if they are real.
View Certificate Details
This one is a bit more advanced because it involves diving a bit deeper into your browser’s menu and that can be misleading if you don’t have a proper understanding of SSL.
If a website doesn’t have the green address bar, the most that you can tell from the presence of security connection indicators is that your connection is secure. That means no third party can eavesdrop and steal information. But as we just discussed, it doesn’t mean you’re safe, though.
That’s because you don’t know who is on the other end of the connection. Most browsers (like Safari and Firefox) allow you to view the certificate by clicking the padlock icon in the address bar.