URLert Update: Growing Stronger in the Fight Against Online Scams

It's been several exciting months since URLert first launched! I'm thrilled to report that, thanks to our growing community of users like you, the service now flags hundreds of malicious URLs every single day. Your submissions and usage are invaluable in making the web a safer place for everyone.

Our Mission: Protecting You Online

From the beginning, the mission has been simple: to provide a useful tool that helps prevent users from falling victim to dangerous online scams, phishing attempts, and malware distribution. Seeing reports online (like on Reddit and other forums) of people losing significant amounts of money and personal data to malicious actors constantly reinforces the importance of this goal. My sincere hope is that URLert serves as a crucial, easy-to-use first line of defense.

What's New? Recent Improvements

We've been hard at work enhancing URLert based on usage patterns and feedback:

Improved User Interface (UI): We've made tweaks to make the service easier and more intuitive to navigate.
More Informative Scan Results: Scan results now provide clearer warnings and more valuable context about potential risks.
Enhanced AI Detection: Our underlying AI model has been upgraded for better threat identification. As AI technology advances, we'll continue to refine our detection capabilities.

The Ongoing Challenge: Sophisticated AI-Powered Scams

The fight against online threats is constantly evolving. Malicious actors are increasingly using sophisticated AI to generate websites that look incredibly legitimate at first glance, sometimes bypassing detection methods. While our AI is improving, and new domains are often easier to flag due to lack of history, highly convincing scams hosted on established infrastructure can sometimes be missed.

This is why we've added important warnings to scan results, particularly for e-commerce and cryptocurrency sites – categories known for high risk. Please remember: even if URLert returns a result indicating the site is likely safe, you should still exercise extreme caution with unfamiliar online shops or investment platforms. Always look for multiple trust signals (reviews, contact information, secure payment methods) before providing personal information or making payments. Trust your instincts; if something feels off, it probably is.

A Real-World Example: Spot the Fake

Here’s a great example recently submitted by a URLert user, highlighting how tricky these fake sites can be:

Legitimate Store: https://shop.nottinghamforest.co.uk/
Potentially Malicious Lookalike: https://www.nottinghamforestfanshop.com/ (Flagged by URLert as potentially suspicious)

Above: The legitimate Nottingham Forest online shop.

Above: The potentially malicious lookalike shop flagged by URLert.

This example clearly shows how easily someone could be tricked by a convincing fake storefront designed to steal payment information or login credentials.

Keeping URLert Free and Accessible

URLert's growing popularity and the resources required for processing the increasing number of scans also mean increased operational costs (servers, API calls, etc.). While I'm currently exploring sustainable ways to manage this growth, I want to assure you of one thing: URLert will remain free to use and free of advertisements. I firmly believe that access to basic online safety tools should be available to everyone, without barriers.

How You Can Help URLert Grow

Your support is crucial to helping more people discover URLert and stay safe online! Here’s how you can easily help:

Spread the Word: Please share URLert (you can link to https://urlert.com) with your friends, family, and colleagues. Post about it on X (Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, or any other communities you're part of. The more people know, the more people we can protect.
Support on Product Hunt: We recently launched on Product Hunt! Your upvote and comments there would be incredibly helpful in boosting visibility: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/urlert

Feedback and Suggestions Welcome

Have ideas on how to improve URLert further? Encountered a tricky scam site? Or just want to share your thoughts? Please don't hesitate to reach out via email: support@urlert.com.

Thank you for being part of the URLert community, for using the service, and for reading this update! Let's continue working together to make the internet a safer place.