If you want your business’ website to work as securely and as well as it should, it will need to reside on a server that is well-protected and well-functioning. For the most part, hosting companies provide their best services, but a few scammers have been known to operate shady businesses.

Apart from the damage to your reputation as the owner of an unreliable site, crimes could be committed against your business by hosting companies setup to steal personal and financial information that they then sell on to third-party entities.

This is called web hosting fraud, a term used to describe hosting companies that, at first, appear to be legal businesses, but turn into nightmares once their clients have foolishly signed up for their services. They steal financial information and sell it, allowing other criminals (or sometimes use the information themselves) to steal identities and ruin the financial standing of your unsuspecting clients.

The Warning Signs

Web hosting companies out to rip their clients off usually have a few telltale signs that can show them for the fraudsters they are. As a matter of fact, clients that are fooled almost always suppress the warnings that go off in their heads in hopes that the too-good-to-be-true hosting deal they’ve been offered is, in fact, a reality. Such deals usually offer:

• Unbelievably low prices. While the prices for web hosting have continued to go down over the years, there is simply no way they can be offered in cents. Unless they are a major, credible hosting provider that has been in business for years and has managed to grow their server farms, there is simply no way a startup with just a few years’ service under their belts can offer such low prices.
• “Free” hardware deals. In doing your research, look for suspicious “Free” deals on a web service provider’s site. While most hosting providers do offer some of their services and features for free, they usually come at a cost: upgrades in packages, their ads on your site, signing up for a number of years, buying one feature to get another for free, etc.
• Bad Reviews. Getting fake reviews is easy. Whether they are great, positive reviews or horrid, negative ones, it is easy to sign up to review sites and write about imagined experiences with any company, including web hosting service providers. But there are some reliable review sites that offer the honest truth. Check out Consumer Reports – avoid sites like Consumer Affairs and the Better Business Bureau, which work on a pay-to-play business model.

Anyone looking for decent and professional hosting services needs to stay clear of these warning signs.

Why Do They Do It?

If you’re wondering why any business would resort to these scams, you might already know the answer. Let’s look at why fraudulent hosting providers do what they do.

The Money

They call it the root of all evil and it’s the primary reason hosting providers offer fraudulent services. They simply opt to take money from hapless clients with promises of glitzy services and features they have no intention of delivering upon.

Overbooking

Other hosting providers start out with good intentions, but then go overboard with cutting their costs – at the cost of the client, unfortunately. For example, a provider might lower their price to get more clients on board, but once there is a queue at their door, they continue to let more sites on their servers, even when they are obviously overbooked and the performance of every single page on their servers is below par.

The Data

Of course, there are hosting providers that are simply evil businesses posing as legitimate fronts for crooks and criminals that lurk in the dark underbelly of the internet. Clients are brought on board for just one purpose – to have their data stolen and sold.

Not Caring Either Way

Some hosting providers offer their services to whoever signs up and lets them do what they want with their sites. They let scam and spam websites sit on the same server as the legitimate websites. When the rogue sites are found out and have their IP addresses blocked and taken down, the innocent ones get banned right along with them.

What Can You Do?

Businesses that find themselves on these fraudulent servers should:

• Switch Services – move to a new hosting provider immediately.

• Take Action – report the company to the appropriate authorities.

• Not Keep Quiet – write online reviews about your experience and help others avoid the same fate.

While we don’t have to throw our money away, expecting a lot for free will almost always cost us. If you’re looking for web hosting services, be sure to start with an in-depth cost analysis to help you figure out the optimal price for your hosting solution.