Is this business legit? How to check a company before you pay
A contractor wants a deposit. A vendor sent an invoice. A company you found online wants you to sign. Here is how to check them before money moves.
Fake businesses are cheap to build. A domain, a template website, a logo, a few five-star reviews written the same afternoon, and a phone number that forwards to a cell. What they cannot fake cheaply is history: state registration going back years, reviews spread across time and sites, and an absence of enforcement actions. That is what a good check looks for.
What a business check actually looks at
A Business Search on ScamCatchers checks the name (and website, if you have it) against several sources at once:
- Scam reports filed against the business, plus enforcement actions from regulators such as the SEC.
- State business registration: whether an entity by that name shows up as registered where it claims to operate.
- Better Business Bureau and Trustpilot profiles, ratings and complaint patterns.
- Online reputation: pages that actually name the business in connection with complaints, lawsuits or scam warnings, as opposed to generic industry noise.
- Nonprofit status for charities and organizations soliciting donations.
- Website signals: domain age, whether the site appears in Google's Safe Browsing threat lists, and hosting risk indicators.
The report weighs these together. A business that is registered, has a multi-year web presence and a normal mix of reviews reads as ordinary. A business whose website is six weeks old, whose name is one letter off from a national brand, and whose only reviews are all from last month reads very differently.
Red flags worth taking seriously
The website is brand new
Domain age is one of the most reliable signals there is. Scam operations burn domains constantly; an established company's site is usually years old. A site registered within the last few months, presenting itself as a long-standing company, is the single most common tell.
The name is almost, but not quite, a company you know
An extra word, a different suffix, a hyphen, a ".co" instead of ".com." Lookalike names borrow trust from a real brand. Check the exact name and the exact domain.
They only take payment methods that cannot be reversed
Wire transfer, Zelle, Venmo to a personal account, gift cards, crypto. A legitimate business taking a deposit can take a card or a check. Insisting on irreversible payment is a choice, and it tells you why.
The deposit comes before the paperwork
Real contractors and vendors produce a written estimate, a contract, a license number and proof of insurance before they ask for money. A deposit demanded before any of that exists is a deposit you will not see again.
The reviews all sound the same
All five stars, all posted within a few weeks, all vague ("great service, highly recommend"). Genuine review histories are spread over time, mention specifics, and include a few complaints.
Urgency that has nothing to do with the job
"This price is only good today." "We have one slot left this month." Pressure to decide before you can verify is the point of the pressure.
Two things to verify yourself, every time
- Call them on a number you found independently, not the one on the invoice or the message. Search the company, find its listing, and call that. If the person who answers has never heard of your project, you have your answer.
- Ask for a license number and look it up with your state's licensing board. Contractors, movers, electricians, plumbers and many other trades are licensed, and the board's site will show whether the license is active and who holds it.
What a clean result means
A clean report means nothing alarming turned up in the sources checked. It is a good sign, not a guarantee. New honest businesses exist, and so do scams nobody has reported yet. Keep the basics: written agreement first, reversible payment, and a phone number you verified on your own.
Check the business
Business name, plus the website and city if you have them. The first search is free.
Verify a business now ScamCatchers is not a consumer reporting agency and cannot be used for employment, housing, credit or insurance decisions.Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a company is legitimate?
Check that it is registered with its state, that its reviews on independent sites are consistent with what it claims, that it has no enforcement actions or scam reports against it, and that its website is older than a few months. ScamCatchers runs those checks in one search.
Does no BBB listing mean a business is a scam?
No. Many small, honest businesses have never registered with the BBB or collected reviews on Trustpilot. Absence of a listing matters only when the business is asking for money or personal data up front and something else is already wrong.
What are the biggest red flags for a fake business?
A website registered in the last few months, a name that closely resembles a well-known company, pressure to pay by wire, Zelle, gift card or crypto, a deposit demanded before any paperwork, reviews that are all five stars and all recent, and contact details that go nowhere when tested.
Can I use ScamCatchers to vet a vendor or contractor?
Yes, for the question of whether to trust them with a payment. ScamCatchers is not a consumer reporting agency; its reports cannot be used for employment, tenant, credit or insurance decisions.