Security terms in plain English
The words that turn up in a report, explained without the jargon. Each one says what it is, what it does not prove, and how it appears on a report, so you can read a finding without trusting us.
Bank transfer
A payment where money moves straight from your own account into someone else’s account, usually within a day or two.
Does not meanThat the seller is dodging card payments for a reason. Plenty of honest small shops invoice by bank transfer, and it is normal.
In a reportThe only way to pay is a manual bank transfer into an account published on the site. There is no gateway, so there is no chargeback or dispute route once the money leaves.
Chargeback
A reversal your bank makes when you dispute a card payment.
Does not meanA way to get money back after a bank transfer. Once an EFT has left your account, the bank cannot pull it back for you.
In a reportPayments run through PayFast, which means there is a card or bank dispute process if something goes wrong.
CIPC
The Companies and Intellectual Property Commission, the register of South African companies.
Does not meanThat a website belongs to the company whose number it prints. Anyone can print a number, and we only check the format.
In a reportThe site publishes company registration number 2019/123456/07, which you can look up on the CIPC register.
Crypto wallet
A digital address that receives cryptocurrency.
Does not meanAnything reversible. A crypto payment cannot be traced back to an accountable business, and there is no dispute route.
In a reportThe site asks for payment to a cryptocurrency wallet. Crypto payments cannot be reversed or traced back to an accountable business.
Domain
The web address people type, such as example.co.za.
Does not meanAnything about who is behind it. A domain is a name, and names can be bought.
In a reportThe domain is registered through MarkMonitor Inc.
Domain age
How long the domain has been registered.
Does not meanThat a new domain is dishonest, or that an old one is honest. Many honest businesses are new, and old domains can be bought tomorrow.
In a reportThe domain was registered 11 days ago (2026-10-09).
Google Safe Browsing
The list Chrome uses to warn people away from known malicious and deceptive sites.
Does not meanA complete list of scams. A site opened last week has not been reported yet, which is why a clean result proves nothing.
In a reportGoogle Safe Browsing flags this site for social engineering.
Hellopeter
A South African review platform where customers rate companies in public, and companies can reply.
Does not meanThat every business there is good. Read what the customers say, and read what the company answered.
In a reportCheck Hellopeter (South Africa).
HTTPS
The encrypted version of a web connection — the padlock in the address bar.
Does not meanThat the site is safe to buy from. A certificate takes minutes to obtain and says nothing about honesty.
In a reportThe HTTPS connection is protected by a valid certificate issued by Google Trust Services, valid until 2026-12-21.
Maltiverse
A service that collects threat-intelligence reports and classifies hostnames as benign, suspicious or malicious.
Does not meanThat a benign classification is a clean bill of health. Classifications lag, and a domain can change hands.
In a reportMaltiverse classifies this domain as malicious.
MX record
The setting that tells the internet where to deliver email for a domain.
Does not meanThat the person behind the domain is legitimate. It only says mail has somewhere to go.
In a reportThe domain is configured to send and receive email.
OpenPhish
A community feed of websites running phishing pages right now.
Does not meanA complete list of phishing. It holds the sites people have reported recently, and nothing older.
In a reportThis domain appears on the OpenPhish community feed of currently active phishing sites.
Phone numbering area
The geographic area a South African fixed-line number belongs to.
Does not meanWhere the business is. Numbers can be forwarded, ported, or used by an online business from anywhere.
In a reportThe 011 numbering code is allocated to the Johannesburg region. This identifies the numbering area only.
Rate limit
A cap on how many checks one network address can make in a day.
Does not meanAnything about the site being checked. It keeps the service running and slows down automated abuse.
In a reportYou will not find this on a report. It is the limit on how many checks one person can make in a day.
Reviews
What customers say about a business, either on the seller’s own page or on an independent platform.
Does not meanThat reviews on a seller’s own page are real. The seller chooses them, and they are trivial to copy.
In a reportThe site’s own markup advertises 128 review(s) with an average rating of 4.6. Reviews published on the site itself are chosen by the seller.
Security certificate
A small digital file that lets your browser make an encrypted connection, and shows the site controls the domain.
Does not meanThat the business is honest, that its products are genuine, or that a payment is safe.
In a reportThe site’s security certificate was issued 3 days ago.
Tranco ranking
An academic ranking of the world’s most-visited websites, built from several traffic datasets and hardened against manipulation.
Does not meanThat a site missing from the list is suspicious. Most legitimate small businesses are not on it, so absence is never a warning sign.
In a reportTranco, a ranking of the world’s most-visited websites, places this domain around number 5 843 — consistent with a site that receives substantial, sustained traffic.
URLhaus
A public database of links known to distribute malware, run by abuse.ch.
Does not meanThat a site missing from it is clean. A listing is strong evidence; the absence of one is worth nothing.
In a reportThis domain is listed on URLhaus, a public malware-distribution database, with 3 reported URL(s).
Wayback Machine
The internet archive. It stores snapshots of pages over the years, and a snapshot cannot be backdated.
Does not meanThat an archived site was safe then, or is safe now. A good business can be taken over, and an old domain can be bought.
In a reportThe Wayback Machine has been capturing this site since 1999-11-29.
WHOIS
The public registration record for a domain: when it was created, which registrar holds it, sometimes who owns it.
Does not meanThe truth about a business. Owners can hide their details, and the record only shows what was given.
In a reportThe domain is publicly registered to Woolworths (Pty) Ltd.
A technical detail can be useful without proving that a website is safe. ScamCheck ZA shows what we found and what we could not check. It never publishes a verdict that a business is a scam.