There are several ways to help you find out if the business is real or fake:

1. Get their business credit report. For US businesses, you can check their business credit report at Dun and Bradstreet , or a cheaper alternative is Experian Business

2. Check with Mapquest the accuracy of the address. It can be as simple as this, but one website that advertised with us looks incredibly professional but the address does not exist. They paid us with stolen credit card.

3. BBB member – note that BBB is a non profit organization, not government agency that requires every organization to register. Check with the report BBB has on their website.

4. Check the EIN number using databases such as freeerisa.com http://www.freeerisa.com/ (they allow you up to 3 free searches) or http://www.knowx.com/

5. Check if they have any address or phone number located in their website. Contact the phone number. If you can’t get hold of anyone and you tried to call at different times, you can assume that something is not right

6. Check how recent the domain of the website was registered. The older the domain the more assurance you can get that this is the real deal. Scammers typically set up a new domain, create a website, scam other people, then close up the site immediately. Note though that many owners are opting for private domain registration so you cannot see the whois details in terms of contact name and address.

7. Search the web using the company name as your keyword. If you can find any derogatory or complaints in forum or blogs or websites, then that can be a red flag for you. Check especially websites such as RipOffReport http://www.ripoffreport.com/ to find out if others have complained about the businessOne rule of thumb to follow: if they are offering you a deal too good to be true, it probably is.