Chrome extension FAQ

The Scamwise Chrome extension is a free browser extension that checks websites as you browse and warns you the moment you land on a scam site, before you buy, sign in, or share anything.

It runs on the same detection engine behind Scamwise, the free scam checker that has analyzed more than a million scams submitted by consumers. The extension protects you from:

• Fake online stores selling products that will never arrive
• Phishing sites with fake sign-in pages pretending to be organizations you trust
• Copycat sites impersonating real retailers
• Scam sellers and listings on large marketplaces
• Fake deals, giveaways, and offers that are too good to be true

We are on a mission to stop scams and build better digital protection for consumers and families. We started building Scamwise as a free suite of products. We are a business and will need to have revenue. In addition to free products for all, we are working on premium features that will provide advanced protection for a subset of users that see the value in paying for them.

The team at Savi Security. We are a close team of cybersecurity pros and technology builders that are passionate about stopping scams and fraud. We are based in California in the USA and you can find out more about our founding story here.

The extension is built for Google Chrome on desktop (Windows, Mac, Linux, and ChromeOS). It is not available on phones or tablets at this time.

If you want to explore other scam protection features from Scamwise, check out our app for iPhone and Android to help stop suspicious texts, calls, voicemails, and links. And you can always paste any link into the scam checker in the app or at scamwise.com.

Yes, it's 100% free. No trial, no paywall, no credit card.

You will need to create a free Scamwise account when you install the extension. You can sign up with your email or with Google or Apple. If you already use the Scamwise app, sign in with the same account to keep everything together.

Getting started takes under a minute:

1. Click Add to Chrome in the Chrome Web Store.
2. Create your free Scamwise account (or sign in).
3. Pin the extension so you can see the icon, and keep browsing.

Yes. That message comes from Chrome's Enhanced Safe Browsing setting, not from anything Scamwise does. Chrome shows it for extensions from developers that are new to the Chrome Web Store, and Scamwise is new. Chrome stops showing it once a developer has a few months of history on the store.

Click Continue to install to add Scamwise. You'll only see the message if Enhanced Safe Browsing is turned on in Chrome.

Scamwise checks each site when it loads and tells you what it found through the extension icon and, when something is wrong, a banner at the top of the page.

• Green check on the icon — the site looks safe. No pop-ups, no interruptions.
• Yellow banner — the site looks risky. Pause before you buy, sign in, or share anything.
• Red banner — the site looks like a scam. A one-click Leave site button takes you off the site to a new tab.

Every warning explains, in plain language, what Scamwise found. You may also briefly see a gray icon with three dots while Scamwise is still checking a page — that just means it's thinking.

Click Leave site. It takes you to a safe page so you can carry on browsing. Don't enter any information, don't make a purchase, and don't sign in.

If you already entered payment or login details before the warning appeared, act quickly: contact your bank or card issuer, change the password you used (and anywhere else you reuse it), and keep an eye on your accounts. Our Scam Response Guide walks through the steps.

Our detection algorithms are designed to be conservative. Scamwise looks for signals that are commonly associated with fraud, like how new a domain is, what customers are saying about it elsewhere, and whether the site matches patterns we've seen in confirmed scams. Sometimes a legitimate business, especially a new or small one, trips those signals.

If you know a site is safe, you can turn off the warning for that site directly from the banner. Scamwise adds it to your safelist and won't alert you about it again. If you're a business owner and believe Scamwise is describing your site inaccurately, the most effective step is to address the underlying signals: correct any misleading claims, respond to negative reviews, and build visible trust signals. You can also submit a Verdict Review Request.

Scamwise is a free tool that is meant to do the heavy lifting of investigative work for you. We are proud of our accuracy, but no tool can promise absolute certainty. If something still feels off, trust that instinct: look up the store outside its own site for reviews or buyer feedback. If you think we classified an unsafe site incorrectly, please send the link through the feedback option in the extension or email support@savisecurity.com so we can improve and help others.

Scamwise never sees anything you type or enter on any page, including passwords, payment details, and form fields. We don't track your browsing history, and we will never share or sell your information. Most sites, including well-known, established ones, are recognized locally on your device, so nothing leaves your computer. Only pages that look suspicious are sent securely to Scamwise to be checked for scams. For full details, see our Privacy Policy.