How Can I Tell If a PayPal Website Is Legitimate?

1. Log on to the Paypal website and look at the address in the browser bar. Make sure the site starts with 'https' instead of 'http.' The 'https' designation indicates the site is secured.
2. Look for a small key on the bottom of your Internet Explorer browser window. This is your indication that the site uses encryption.
3. Review the website carefully. A legitimate site will have a professional look, while a scam site will often look sloppy and appear to have been put together hastily. Any misspellings or grammatical errors in the website text are red flags the site is not legitimate.
4. Log on to the website of the Better Business Bureau (see Resources) and type the name of the company or website. A large number of complaints about the company is another red flag.