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Check a link

An address from a text message, an email or a QR code looks odd? Paste it here. It is taken apart and checked for typical tricks, and it is never opened.

It can show danger, never confirm safetyThe checker only sees the address and fetches nothing. If it finds nothing, that does not mean the page is genuine. When in doubt: do not open the link, and go to the company yourself through its known website or app.

Paste it here (Ctrl+V, Cmd+V on a Mac). The address stays in this browser and is stored nowhere.

Try it out

Nothing entered yetAs soon as you paste an address, the result appears here, after a short pause in typing.

More on this topic: Spot a scam (questionnaire) · Read a mail header · Read a QR code

The address and the image never leave this device. Nothing is opened and nothing is stored.

How it works
  1. 01Paste an address, or choose a photo or screenshot with a QR code. Pressing Ctrl+V with an image on the clipboard works too.
  2. 02The address is taken apart: connection, user part, name, ending, path. The part that decides the owner is highlighted.
  3. 03You see what stands out and read it before you do anything. Nothing is opened, and there is deliberately no button for that.

What is checked: an @ in the address (everything before it is only a user name), names in foreign or mixed alphabets and punycode (xn--), a numeric address instead of a name, well-known brands in the wrong part (“paypal.de.konto-check.net”), names that nearly match a brand (“paypa1”, “amazom”), short link services, connections that are not encrypted, unusual ports, redirects inside the address, file endings such as .exe, conspicuous endings, very long or nested names and invisible characters.

Quishing: Fake QR stickers placed over genuine codes, for example on parking meters, charging posts or in letters, lead to copied pages. When you scan, the phone often shows only part of the address. Here you see the whole link and its parts before you open anything. If a code is stuck over another one, leave it alone.

Limits: The brand list is short and kept by hand. It knows about 60 frequently imitated companies and not every genuine address. The ending of an address is recognized with a short list, so for rare endings the highlighted part can be wrong. With a short link there is no way to say where it leads. An address with nothing unusual can still belong to a fake page, for example on a hacked or freshly bought domain. This checker is no replacement for antivirus software or advice. If you have already been tricked, call your bank on the number printed on your card and talk to the police.