You found something you love on an Instagram page you've never bought from. Before you pay, run this checklist. It takes about two minutes, and it filters out most fake sellers in Sri Lanka.
The checklist
1. How old is the page? On Facebook, check Page Transparency; on Instagram, look at the earliest posts. Scam pages are usually young because they get reported and deleted. A page with years of history has something to lose.
2. Do the comments look like real customers? Scroll past the post you came for. Real pages have messy, specific comments — questions about sizes, complaints about courier delays, repeat customers by name. Fake pages have silence, or floods of one-word praise.
3. Are there real reviews outside their own page? Sellers control their own page. Search the shop's name in Facebook buy-and-sell groups and on Google. One genuine unboxing photo from a stranger is worth more than fifty 5-star reviews on the seller's own wall.
4. Will they video call or send a live photo? Ask for a photo of your exact item next to a handwritten note with today's date. A legit seller does this happily. Excuses — "stock is at the warehouse", "camera is broken" — are answers too.
5. Is there a real way to reach them? A phone number that answers, a WhatsApp that replies with a name, ideally a pickup location. You may never use it. The point is whether it exists.
6. How do they want to be paid? This is the question that matters most. "Full payment to a personal bank account, then we ship" puts all the risk on you. Card payments, cash on delivery, or a protected payment service shift the risk back where it belongs.
7. How do they react when you ask for protection? Tell them you'd prefer to pay through a service that holds the money until delivery. An honest seller hears "guaranteed payment, fewer disputes" and says yes. A scammer hears "I can't run with the money" — and their reaction tells you everything.
What to do with a borderline result
If a seller passes some checks but not others, don't take the gamble on a high-value item. Either start with a small order you can afford to lose, or insist on a payment method with protection. Walking away from a maybe is never a loss.
Make the checklist unnecessary
The honest truth: most of this checklist exists because direct bank transfers are irreversible. Remove that, and you don't need to be a detective.
With TrustPay, you pay us — not the seller. The seller ships knowing the payment is secured, you confirm the order arrived as described, and only then does the money move. Sellers get verified in under 24 hours, so the badge itself becomes check number one. Start a protected purchase.