--- title: "What are the warning signs of fraud when buying a website or online business?" url: https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/warning-signs-of-fraud-when-buying-a-website/ updated: 2026-10-12 publisher: FirstPass Memo (hello@firstpassmemo.com) --- Answers # What are the warning signs of fraud when buying a website or online business? Short answer: The common patterns are edited revenue screenshots, traffic bought before the sale, profit averaged over a cherry-picked window, penalised or recycled domains, pressure to pay outside escrow, income tied to accounts that cannot transfer, and owner work hidden behind a passive label. Each has an innocent explanation sometimes, so verify rather than assume. Updated 12 October 2026 · Figures checked against their sources on 12 October 2026 ## Check a listing now, free FirstPass Memo offers a free red-flag checker for business-for-sale listings and, during the beta, a free first-pass memo on a specific listing you send. Paste any listing below for payback, the asking multiple and its red flags. Nothing you paste leaves your browser. Open the full checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/) to unlock every flag with its seller question. These are patterns, not accusations: each one can also have an innocent explanation, which is why the answer is always to ask and verify rather than assume. None of the examples below refer to a real listing. ## Is the revenue real or edited? Screenshots of dashboards are easy to edit. The defence is evidence from a system the seller cannot change in front of you: a live screen share where you pick the reports, read-only access, and payouts matched to bank deposits. See how to tell if a listing's revenue is fake (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/how-to-tell-if-a-website-listings-revenue-is-fake/). ## Was traffic bought before the sale? Traffic bought in the months before listing makes the site look like it is growing. Look for sudden spikes, low engagement and odd countries. See how to spot botted traffic (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/how-to-spot-botted-traffic-on-a-website-for-sale/). ## Is profit averaged over a cherry-picked window? "Average profit over the last 3 months" can hide a decline or a one-off spike. Ask for 24 months. Our checker raises earnings averaged over a short period (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/earnings-averaged-over-short-period/). ## Is the domain penalised or recycled? A domain with a manual action, or one that recently changed topic, can sink after you buy it. Check its history on the Wayback Machine and in Search Console. See how to check a domain's history (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/how-to-check-a-domains-history-before-buying-a-website/). ## Is the seller pushing you to pay outside escrow? A seller who pushes for a direct transfer, gift cards or crypto "to save fees" removes your protection. Use a licensed escrow service or the marketplace's own payment flow, and never send money before the assets and access are confirmed. ## Will the income-producing accounts transfer? AdSense, affiliate, Amazon and Stripe accounts often cannot move to a new owner. If most of the value sits in an account that stays with the seller, you are buying a website, not the income. ## Is owner work hidden behind a passive label? "Passive" listings that rely on the seller's 20 hours a week are a pricing problem rather than fraud, but they feel like it after closing. Ask for hours per week and what each task is. The checker flags owner hours not stated (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/owner-hours-not-stated/) and "passive" claims next to staff (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/called-passive-but-relies-on-staff/). ## A five-minute first screen Paste the listing into the free red-flag checker (https://firstpassmemo.com/checker/) before you contact the seller. It reads only what you paste and does not verify anything, but it shows which questions to ask first. ## Sources - Escrow.com, Fee calculator, US dollar transactions (https://www.escrow.com/fee-calculator), read 7 October 2026 - Search Console Help, Manual actions report (https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175), read 12 October 2026 - Google AdSense Help, Invalid traffic (https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/16737), read 12 October 2026 - FirstPass Memo, red-flag checker rules (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/), our own rules, published as /rules.json ## Related - Red flags when buying an online business (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/red-flags-when-buying-an-online-business/) - How to tell if revenue is fake (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/how-to-tell-if-a-website-listings-revenue-is-fake/) - How escrow works (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/how-does-escrow-work-when-buying-a-website/) - Red flags explained (https://firstpassmemo.com/flags/) - Glossary of listing terms (https://firstpassmemo.com/glossary/) - More questions buyers ask (https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/) Composite examples are invented and labelled. Figures from other sites are quoted with a link and the date we read them; FirstPass figures are asking prices and seller-stated profit, not sale prices. Informational screening only, not investment, legal or tax advice. ## Looking at a specific listing? Get a free first-pass memo. Paste the link, we reply within 24 hours of acceptance. Free during the beta, then pay what it was worth ($0 is fine). After the beta, your first memo is $79; human quick reviews cost $199–$390. --- FirstPass Memo is informational screening, not investment, legal, tax, accounting or valuation advice, and not an audit. Seller figures are not independently verified. HTML version: https://firstpassmemo.com/answers/warning-signs-of-fraud-when-buying-a-website/