Can you spot three fake websites and compare the three fake websites to three real websites, plus showcase what makes the fake websites fake?
Three simple examples of fake websites are:
- www.zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/
- www.zapatopi.net/afdb/
- www.dhmo.org/
Three examples of real websites are:
- https://www.nasa.gov
- https://www.odu.edu
- https://www.gamestop.com
The first thing to examine when trying to tell if a site is legitimate is the domain name. If the domain name doesn’t match the official website for the company or looks sketchy, then it most likely is a fake site. Next, the user should look for a padlock symbol beside the domain name to see whether it has a security certificate. Notice above how all of the real sites include https:// before the site.
Fake sites are often easily distinguished based on their look. If you examine the first three sites listed above, you will notice that the design of the sites are very poor and unprofessional. If the site includes misspellings or false information, like all three of the sites above, then it is definitely fake. Compared to the three real sites, the structure and information is widely different.
Another thing that is important to keep in mind is that if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is. Once a user is suspicious, they should run a scan for viruses and closely examine the sites that they are visiting.