Back to catalogue
5 MIN · Module

Reading a URL: is this site real?

Decoding web addresses to spot fakes, in 90 seconds.

Read from the middle

Scammers love URLs that LOOK legitimate. The trick is to read from the middle: find the rightmost dot before the first single slash, then look at the word(s) just before it. Real: https://www.gov.uk/student-finance, domain is gov.uk ✅ Fake: https://gov.uk.login-secure.com, domain is login-secure.com ❌ Fake: https://www.gov-uk.com/login, domain is gov-uk.com (a different company) ❌ When in doubt, type the address yourself rather…

Sign up to start the lesson

EANE is and always will be free to learn. Create your free account to read the lesson, take the assessment, and earn your credit.

  • Always free, no fees, no hidden surprises
  • No ads, no third-party tracking
  • Earn verifiable European nano-credentials