{"id":505005,"date":"2022-10-30T18:00:52","date_gmt":"2022-10-30T15:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/"},"modified":"2022-10-30T18:00:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-30T15:00:52","slug":"how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/","title":{"rendered":"#How to Test a Suspicious Link Before Clicking It"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a27f68ae67ed\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a27f68ae67ed\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/#%E2%80%9CHow_to_Test_a_Suspicious_Link_Before_Clicking_It%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;How to Test a Suspicious Link Before Clicking It&#8221;<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-2' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/#Check_a_Link_Yourself\" >Check a Link Yourself<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/#Copy_the_Address_for_Testing\" >Copy the Address for Testing<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/#Testing_the_Link\" >Testing the Link<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/#Unshortening_a_URL\" >Unshortening a URL<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/#Checking_an_Address\" >Checking an Address<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CHow_to_Test_a_Suspicious_Link_Before_Clicking_It%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;How to Test a Suspicious Link Before Clicking It&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<!-- UNCACHED CONTENT --><\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage size-full wp-image-840103\" data-pagespeed-no-defer=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/shutterstock_2069553797.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Closeup of a smartphone with a message containing a link on screen.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/jhargram-india-february-28-2021-man-2069553797\">SOMNATH MAHATA\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>You can check text links for deceptive linking in your browser by hovering over or, on a mobile device, pressing and holding it. You can also unshorten shortened links using online tools like CheckShortURL or Unshorten.It, and check for scams and website trustworthiness with PhishTank or URLVoid.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve all received strange messages either in emails or via chat <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>s that claimed to be from friends, family, or familiar businesses, urging us to click a link. Is there a way to check these links without clicking them so you can figure out what\u2019s up?<\/p>\n<p>Just like when checking that a downloaded file is safe, there are several tests you can perform, and below we\u2019ll go over the simplest. We\u2019ll start with a few things you can do yourself before moving on to some sites that can check links for you.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Check_a_Link_Yourself\"><\/span>Check a Link Yourself<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When presented with a link in your browser, there\u2019s a simple way to check if it\u2019s bonafide or not. On a desktop computer, simply mouse over the link\u2014meaning to hold your cursor over it without clicking\u2014and then in most browsers you\u2019ll see some text pop up in the lower left corner. On a mobile device, pressing and holding on a link will also bring up this text in a dialog box. Try it with these links:<\/p>\n<p>www.howtogeek.com<\/p>\n<p>www.flowers4u.com<\/p>\n<p>With each of those two links, you could see that each directs you to our homepage at www.howtogeek.com, it\u2019s just that the second link had a different \u201canchor text,\u201d the text that displayed on the page. <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a>ly speaking, if the anchor text and the words in the text (the URL) don\u2019t seem to match up, there\u2019s a chance you\u2019re being bamboozled.<\/p>\n<p>Besides sites not matching up, you may also see some other weird things while mousing over a link. Sometimes it will just be an odd site name, but more often than not scammers will use so-called shortened links to sucker people in. There are many different types of shortened links, but their main feature is that the link has fewer characters in it, and usually no longer forms a word or phrase anymore. Here\u2019s an example, which redirects to How-To Geek.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/mhswfafx\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/mhswfafx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Not all shortened links are dodgy, mind you; plenty of them will redirect you to trustworthy sites. Ostensibly, their purpose is just to make long\u00a0URLs more wieldy. There\u2019s just no good way to see where they lead at a glance, meaning they\u2019re a great tool for scammers.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Copy_the_Address_for_Testing\"><\/span>Copy the Address for Testing<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re not sure about a web address, be it a shortened link or just a site name you don\u2019t recognize, there are a number of online tools you can use to check where it leads without visiting it yourself. Before we can use them, though, you need to get the address where the link is going to.<\/p>\n<p>To get that, mouse over the link you want to check, right-click on it rather than left-clicking (or on mobile, tap and hold), and in the context menu click on the option that in Chrome says \u201cCopy Link Address\u201d and in Microsoft Edge simply says \u201cCopy Link.\u201d Different browsers call this function differently, but it will always be something along these lines.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-838833\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/chrome-copy-link-address.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Copying a link in Chrome\" width=\"219\" height=\"169\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Doing this will copy the link to your clipboard, from where we can paste it into the tools that will check it for us. Let\u2019s go see how that works.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Testing_the_Link\"><\/span>Testing the Link<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Testing the link is as simple as taking the copied link and then pasting it into a specialized search engine. However, most of these won\u2019t work with shortened URLs, so let\u2019s fix that issue first.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Unshortening_a_URL\"><\/span>Unshortening a URL<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>To lengthen or \u201cunshorten\u201d a shortened URL, you need to find a site that can do so. There are a few around, our favorites are <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/checkshorturl.com\">CheckShortURL.com<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/unshorten.it\">Unshorten.it<\/a>. In both cases, all you need to do is paste the shortened link into the bar at the top of the screen, hit the \u201cExpand\u201d or \u201cUnshorten It\u201d button.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-838832\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/checkshorturl-box.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"Entering a shortened URL\" width=\"650\" height=\"138\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The tool will do some thinking and you\u2019ll get a small report further down the page. Both of the services we mention will also link you through to sites that report whether or not the revealed page is trustworthy or not, something we can do ourselves in the next step.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-838831\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/checkshorturl-report.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"An unshortened URL\" width=\"650\" height=\"418\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Checking_an_Address\"><\/span>Checking an Address<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>To check a URL, there are a few tools we can use. Probably the most well-known is <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/transparencyreport.google.com\/safe-browsing\/search\">Google\u2019s transparency report<\/a>, but it\u2019s not the greatest resource for the uninitiated. This is because it only works on specific pages, not whole sites\u2014usually, at least.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, for malicious sites, sites that spread malware, you may want to try <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.urlvoid.com\">URLVoid<\/a>. All you need to do to use it is to enter the web address of the site you want to visit and it will compile a set of reports for you that will tell you if there\u2019s an issue with a site or page. As you can see below, How-to Geek passes with flying colors.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-838830\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/urlvoid-report.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"URLVoid report of How-to Geek's site\" width=\"650\" height=\"281\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re less worried about malware and more about <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reviewgeek.com\/129226\/what-is-phishing-and-how-do-you-avoid-it\/\">phishing scams<\/a>, where scammers try to get their grubby hands on your personal data, check out <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.phishtank.com\">PhishTank<\/a>, a site that compiles lists of known phishing sites. Even if the site isn\u2019t in their database, you can choose to add it.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-838829\" data-pagespeed-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/phishtank.png?trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"PhishTank main page\" width=\"600\" height=\"491\" src=\"\/pagespeed_static\/1.JiBnMqyl6S.gif\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><\/p>\n<p>There are more sites that can do this for you, these are just the easiest to use. Generally speaking, though, if you don\u2019t know who sent you a link, you may want to just play it safe and not mess with it at all; just delete the message and forget about it.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, even if the sender claims to be someone you know, you should still be wary of scammers impersonating people close to you. You should also keep an eye out for common PayPal scams and <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a> Marketplace scams.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <strong><em>Scammers Are Impersonating Family Members to Get Your Money<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/838828\/how-to-test-a-suspicious-link-before-clicking-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;How to Test a Suspicious Link Before Clicking It&#8221; SOMNATH MAHATA\/Shutterstock.com You can check text links for deceptive linking in your browser by hovering over or, on a mobile device, pressing and holding it. You can also unshorten shortened links using online tools like CheckShortURL or Unshorten.It, and check for scams and website trustworthiness with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":505006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/shutterstock_2069553797.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-505005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}