| The Internet is a hard-to-control marketplace. The | | | | website has been put together in a rush and/or the |
| medium enables trading between parties that do not | | | | company does not have the means to hire a |
| have to see each other, let alone be in the same | | | | professional to do the web design for them. |
| country. A fair share of people jump on the opportunity | | | | * Be suspicious of extremely cheap prices and |
| to do business without providing the proper paperwork | | | | promises such as easiest, safest and most affordable. |
| that goes into running a company. However, any | | | | * Beware of offers that come to your email account |
| organization with a website is not a business. If the | | | | from sources you are not familiar with. If a company |
| legal framework is not there, you are dealing with a | | | | that you have never heard of before approaches you |
| scam company. | | | | with an offer, they have most likely obtained your |
| All legitimate US companies have a federal tax ID | | | | contact details illegitimately. |
| number. However, tax ID numbers are confidential and | | | | The reasons to not purchase products or services |
| not likely to be shared with consumers without | | | | from illegitimate sources go beyond that of the obvious |
| reasonable purposes. There are however ways in | | | | security breach you are subjecting yourself to. The |
| which you can determine the legitimacy of the | | | | products you purchase will not have a guarantee nor |
| company you are dealing with for yourself: | | | | will the services be insured. The illegitimate company is |
| * Look for a physical address on the company's | | | | not paying taxes and therefore not contributing to the |
| website as well as a land line number or a toll free | | | | economy. Also, the company is most likely encouraging |
| number. The phone number's area code should match | | | | illegal employment in the US or offshore. |
| the company's address. | | | | For more information on online scams, please refer to |
| * Pay attention to the quality of the website. Low | | | | our previous articles on Internet fraud and social |
| quality of graphics and poor grammar indicate that the | | | | networking scams. |