Do you want to avoid getting scammed online?
Fake gaming marketplaces are a huge problem. Every year thousands of gamers fall victim to scam sites and lose their money. And unfortunately that number continues to grow each year…
…but did you know cybercrime in general cost people $16.6 BILLION dollars in 2024 alone?
The FBI reported $16.6 billion in cybercrime losses in 2024. That’s up 33% from last year.
Online gaming marketplaces have become hotbeds for scammers looking to steal both cash and valuable gaming accounts.
Fortunately there’s plenty you can do to avoid scams. Learning how to do a proper site scam check before making purchases will ensure you never get ripped off.
Why Gaming Marketplaces Are Targeted By Scammers
Let’s talk about scams for a minute.
The gaming industry continues to grow every year. In 2023 gaming revenue hit a staggering $209 BILLION dollars.
When there’s that much money flowing through an industry scam artists will find a way to exploit it.
And they do…
Video game assets are worth real money. From skins to accounts to currency.
You name it.
Gamers will spend actual money buying these items to use in their favorite games.
Since 2019 the CS2 skin marketplace alone has topped over $6 billion.
With all this money flowing through gaming platforms, scammers look to steal as much of that cash as they can.
Which is why performing a site scam check is more important than ever if you buy gaming assets.
More and more websites have popped up to help verify the legitimacy of online gaming marketplaces. These scam verifying websites crawl the web to find fraudulent marketplaces before you send your money. Even Korean specific verification platforms like 먹튀갤 공식 사이트 have become trusted resources for gamers. This translates to “Muktu Gallery Official Site” in English — a scam verification community where users share lists of fraudulent websites and warn others about their experiences. Using resources like these before making a purchase can be the difference between keeping and losing your money.
According to the TransUnion 2024 report, gaming generated the highest rate of suspected digital fraud compared to all other industries in the U.S. in 2024. Scammers submitted suspected fraud transactions at a rate of 10.9% across gaming transactions. The next highest industry was household goods at 7%.
Gaming beats out every other industry by a wide margin.
Here’s why gaming platforms are targeted by scammers:
- Large transactions occur daily
- Limited regulations compared to traditional businesses
- Younger audiences can be more trusting
- Complex digital goods are difficult to verify
Don’t become another statistic. Scammers are counting on you to blindly walk into their traps.
Red Flags That Reveal Fake Sites
Fake gaming marketplaces are typically easier to spot than you might think.
If you know what criteria to look for scam websites will stand out immediately.
Here are common themes of fake marketplaces that should tell you to GTFO.
Prices Are Too Good To Be True
You know those deals.
“I’ll give you my near-mint Wolverine LEGO set for only $20 bucks!”
If someone on Facebook is selling something 70% below market value…don’t do it.
Many scammers entice their victims by listing insanely low prices. Sure everyone loves a good deal but professional sellers won’t drop their prices that low because they wouldn’t make any money.
Learn to recognize pricing scams. If it looks too good to be true, there’s a good chance it is.
Terrible Website Design
Real marketplace websites have nice websites.
Fake sites often don’t.
Scam sites will have tons of typos and broken links. Low quality images, poor layouts, and generic templates are the norm.
Remember these sites are built by thieves looking to make a quick buck. They don’t care about making your experience nice or user friendly.
Contact Information Is Hard To Find
Legitimate businesses always make it easy to contact them.
If site owners hide their contact information or only offer a “Contact Us” form don’t trust them.
Trustworthy sites will:
- Provide a physical address
- List a working phone number
- Show a professional email address (not Gmail/Yahoo)
- Display active social media links
This might seem silly but if you can’t easily find how to reach the actual human beings who run the business it’s best to move on.
Secure Payment Methods Aren’t Available
Does the site FORCE you to pay via wire transfer, crypto, or gift cards?
Scam websites often won’t allow secure checkout methods with your bank account or credit cards. Instead they make you send cash that can’t be traced or recovered.
That’s because once you send money via these methods there’s no getting it back.
Always check for “HTTPS://” at the beginning of the URL as well as verified payment processors like PayPal or credit cards with purchase protection.
Steps To Ensure A Marketplace Is Legitimate
Now you know how to spot a scam site. But just in case you’re dealing with a particularly tricky scam here’s a step by step guide to verify the legitimacy of a gaming marketplace.
Look At The Domain Age
The domain should not have been registered last month.
Seriously websites selling tens of thousands of dollars worth of goods will not pop up out of nowhere.
Use a WHOIS lookup tool to verify when the domain was registered. If the WHOIS was registered yesterday but they’ve been “in business” for 10 years…
Expect a scam.
Search For Independent Reviews
This cannot be stressed enough. Do not use reviews on the marketplace itself to gauge if it’s legitimate.
Hackers can fake reviews ANYWHERE on the internet.
Instead use search engines to find reviews on sites like Trustpilot, Reddit, and even Discord.
Look for reviews that go into detail about the buyers transaction. If all of the reviews are glowing 5-stars with no detail they were probably written by the scammers.
Verify The Website Uses SSL Certificates
All legitimate websites use SSL certification to secure checkout.
But scammers like to pretend they do too.
So don’t just look for the padlock icon in the address bar. Click on it and verify the certificate is valid.
There are free SSL certifications scam websites can use to trick you into thinking the site is secure.
Contact Their Customer Service
If they provide a support email, send them an email.
See if they reply.
Any legitimate business will respond to customer inquiries quickly and professionally.
Having no response or a canned response is a good sign of a scam.
Sites That Check If Websites Are Safe
You don’t have to manually go through all these steps yourself either.
Granted knowing how to do a basic scam verification yourself is important. But it would be tedious to do all these things manually every time.
Here are some tools that can help automate the process of checking if a website is safe.
Scam Website Browser Extensions
Installing browser extensions that automatically analyze websites before you visit them is a great way to stop yourself from going to scams altogether.
These extensions use databases filled with reported scam sites to warn you before it’s too late.
WHOIS Website Lookup Tools
These tools let you look up who owns a website via their domain registration.
It’s amazing how many scam sites claim to be some big company but have WHOIS registered to someone’s home address.
Community Generated Verification Sites
Scam verification communities manually keep track of reported scam websites. Others allow users to report scams which are then verified by community members.
Using multiple sources is recommended to stay as covered as possible.
Wrap-Up: Don’t Become A Victim To Fake Marketplaces
Scam websites are unfortunately here to stay.
As long as there’s money to be made in gaming these types of websites will try to steal your money.
The best thing you can do is educate yourself on how to do a proper site scam check.
By taking a few minutes to verify the age of the domain, reading through independent reviews, and verifying they take secure payment methods you drastically reduce your chances of being scammed.
You have everything to lose by rushing into a purchase and trusting a shady website.
Stay safe gamers.