Increasingly, scammers are creating fake websites that impersonate our brand. These fraudulent sites may look authentic, but behind the appearance lies the intent to defraud and steal personal or financial information.

To protect you and ensure a secure shopping experience, we have created this detailed guide. Below, you will find all the information you need to recognize our official channels and learn how to identify and report fake websites. By following our advice, you can browse with confidence, knowing you are always on the right site.

1. CHECK THE DOMAIN

The quickest way to determine if a site is secure is to verify the presence of the HTTPS protocol, with a padlock next to it, in the URL. Another indicator to watch for is a slightly different domain from the official one. Make sure the domain you are purchasing from is the original one, which is castelli-cycling.com

2. PRICES TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE

The second thing to check is the discount percentage offered by the site. Remember, discounts offered by our official site NEVER EXCEED 50% OFF, unlike almost all other fake sites that offer larger discounts to attract and scam people.

3. ANALYZE THE FOOTER AND CONTACT INFORMATION

A third fundamental factor is checking the footer, which contains the company's fiscal and commercial data, usually found in the last section of the site. In our case, the footer of the official site always includes the following details:

“Manifattura Valcismon S.p.A. - Via Marconi 81/83, 32030 Fonzaso (BL), Italy - VAT: 00023370257 - Share Capital: €1,682,500.00 © 2024 Manifattura Valcismon. All Rights Reserved”

4. CHECK FOR GRAMMATICAL ERRORS AND IMAGE QUALITY

Pay attention to the texts; any grammatical or spelling errors on the site may indicate it is amateurishly made. Also, be wary of the site's structure; if it has overlapping images and text or links that lead to empty pages, it is likely a fake site. Another point concerns the quality of the images, which are often of poor quality and pixelated because they are exported from Google or directly downloaded from our official site.

5. PAYMENT METHODS & RETURN POLICY

Verify the payment method; our official site offers secure payment options, including credit or debit cards and PayPal. Also, check the return and refund policy. If the return policy of a site is somehow convoluted or vague, leave it immediately as it is almost certainly a fake site. Here you can find ours: https://www.castelli-cycling.com/IT/it/customer-service/returns-and-refunds

Fake websites often promote their discounts to gain visibility through social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook. They advertise their promotions by stealing photos from our official profiles, deceiving people into believing the ads are genuine.

Here are some tips to ensure the promotions you see are official:

1. Verify the account doing the advertising: Our official Instagram account is @castellicycling, while our official Facebook page is Castelli Cycling.

2. Check the advertising pages: A lack of followers and posts usually indicates fake profiles.

3. Discounts: Ensure that the discounts are not exceeding 50%.