Copycat websites represent another underhanded online practice.
These websites pose as other sites, usually official government websites, looking to mislead people.
You may land on a copycat site if you do as most web surfers do and click the first result that pops up in the Google search engine results without checking.
Copycat sites charge you a fee for services that are otherwise free.
They may offer to help you obtain certain documents and charge you more for them than the official government sites do.
These practices aren’t just immoral, they are also illegal.
Some copycat scammers tiptoe around the laws, however.
That does not change that their main business driver is intentional deception.
Government sites are not the only targets of copycat efforts.
And this is where the scam takes a sinister turn.
It has lately come to our attention that scammers have copied our website and run online copies pretending to be us.
They use URLs that resemble ours.
But at a closer look, you can tell that they are different.
Our only URLs are cncintel.com & cncintelligence.com.
Any other site using a similar but somewhat different URL is a scam operation.
The Consequences of Falling for Copycat Sites
Not all copycat sites are after making money directly.
Many will settle for stealing your crypto private keys or personal information.
If you fall for a copycat site and give the criminals behind it sensitive information, your details will almost certainly end up on the dark web.
Identity theft may result, and online criminals will almost certainly target you with many scams.
Phishing also uses copycat sites.
Scammers email you to convince you to click through to an official-looking site and provide information there.
They aim to induce a sense of urgency or promise potential benefits too good to be true.
How to Avoid Copycat Websites
Your best bet is to find clues that you are dealing with fraudsters.
Here’s what to look for.
- Check the URL and ensure that it is, indeed, the right one. Ours are cncintel.com and cncintelligence.com, not cnc-intel.com, cncnintlligence.com, or anything similar.
- If you use a web search, double-check the results before you click on one. Lose the habit of clicking the first result without scrutiny.
- The top-ranking website is not always the legitimate one. Search engines have improved their services by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Scammers still find temporary ways to dupe them, however.
- Paid adverts often show up above legitimate search results. Scammers may use such ads to beat the organic search results.
- Take a look at the website credentials and the Contact Us page. The email address scammers provide for contact is often an obvious clue.
Verifying CNC Intelligence Website is Authentic with Authorize.Net & Sectigo
A very easy way to verify that the site you’re seeing in front of you is indeed a legitimate CNC Intelligence website is to use our Sectigo and Authorize.Net verification methods.
If you scroll to the bottom of the site, this is what you will see:
Notice an Authorize.Net and a Secured by Sectigo seals. These are two third-party organizations that help companies secure their websites.
If you click on Authorize.Net Verification, a popup window will open, saying that cncintel.com is a verified Authorize.Net merchant, like this:
If you click on Secured by Sectigo, you will be redirected to the following window, ensuring that you are in a “Secure And Authentic Website” belonging to CNC Intelligence Inc.
On the contrary, if you scroll down to the bottom of a fake, copycat website, you will see an Authorize.Net seal, but the Sectigo seal is broken like this:
If you click on the Authorize.Net logo, a popup window will open, saying “Unable to Verify Site,” like this:
If you click on the broken Sectigo image, the following window will open, saying that IdAuthority Credentials are not available for this site:
Therefore, with Authorize.Net and Sectigo, it’s super easy to make sure that the website you are visiting is indeed an authentic CNC Intelligence website.
What to do if you discover a copycat CNC Intelligence website
If you fall victim to a copycat website, take precautionary measures, especially if you give credit card information or crypto private keys.
Report any copycat websites to the authorities.
If you found a CNCIntel.com clone, please let us know. If you have been scammed, schedule a free consultation with us.
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