Scams to watch for when buying an app or website

A screenshot of a dashboard proves very little. Anyone can change the numbers on a web page in their browser before they take it.¹ Ask the seller to share their screen and refresh the dashboard while you watch, or to give you read-only access. Better still, match the figures against bank statements showing the money landing. Our guide to checking an app's revenue goes through it step by step.

Visitors can be bought cheaply, and bots don't buy anything. Warning signs include traffic that's almost all “direct”, visitors who leave within seconds, social accounts with followers but no conversation, and sudden spikes after months of nothing.¹ A seller who won't give you access to their analytics has usually decided you shouldn't see it.

Be careful when the seller picks the escrow service, especially one you've never heard of. Fake escrow sites are often only weeks old, and they look professional.² They send a convincing “payment received” email when nothing was paid.³ Choose the escrow service yourself, type its address in yourself, and check its licence. Our guide to choosing an escrow service in Nigeria has the checks.

A seller who pushes to finish the deal off the platform is a warning sign.¹ It often comes with a discount: “pay me directly and I'll knock some off.” Once money goes straight to a seller's personal account, there's no one to hold it while you check what you bought, and no one to give it back. The same goes for anyone who suddenly wants to rush, or to move the conversation somewhere with no record.

Some sellers list a project that belongs to their old employer, a client, or a co-founder who never agreed. Ask who owns the domain, the app store account and the code, and ask to see proof. A seller who really owns it can change a DNS record or show the repository from their own account in a minute.

A seller who keeps one login can quietly take a domain or an account back once they've been paid. The moment each item is in your hands, change the password, turn on two-step sign-in, and remove the seller from it. Our guide to handing over an app after a sale lists everything to move.

A project earning well and priced far below what similar ones sell for deserves a second look.¹ Sometimes the seller just needs money fast. Sometimes the numbers aren't real. Ask why they're selling, and check the answer against everything else they told you.

On Prow: Revenue marked Verified on Prow is read straight from Stripe with a read-only key, so nobody can edit it. Paystack and Flutterwave figures are labelled as checked from screenshots, so you know the difference. Sellers can prove they control the domain and the GitHub account, and the money is held in escrow with EscrowPay, never by the seller or by Prow, until you've confirmed everything.

• You saw the revenue live, or matched it to bank statements.
• You looked at the analytics yourself.
• You chose the escrow service, and checked its licence.
• You never paid a seller directly.
• The seller proved they own the domain, the code and the accounts.
• You changed every password the moment each item was yours.