Access
Reaching SLOTXO from a phone
Browser versus installed app, the problems that only show up on a small screen, and how to save a route you have already verified.
Read moreChecking a page before you type into it takes under ten seconds once you know where to look. This guide puts the checks in order, most decisive first.
Read the hostname right to left
A web address reads left to right like a sentence, but the part that says who owns it is on the right. The last two labels before the first slash are the registered name, and they are the only part worth comparing.
Whatever sits before the first dot is chosen freely by the domain's owner. That means anybody with a domain of their own can put any brand name they like in front of it. It is the commonest and easiest way to make an address look familiar.
Compare it with the one you know
This information site is published at slotxo-th1.com. If what you see differs by a single character, treat it as a different place rather than as the same place spelt slightly differently.
Three pairs get swapped most often: zero against the letter O, lowercase L against the digit one, and a hyphen added or removed. At a glance all three are invisible. Reading the name out character by character defeats all of them.
Check whether the site has real content
Almost every copied site clones the front page, because that is the page people see first. Open the terms, the privacy policy and the contact page. If those are empty, dead or bounce you back to the homepage, you have your answer.
Notice how the page talks to you
Manufactured urgency
A countdown clock, a "only a few places left" line or a warning that something expires in minutes is a device for making you decide faster than you should. It is not information.
Language that reads wrong
Misspellings, odd spacing and machine-translated sentences show up far more often on a page assembled quickly to imitate another one.
Requests beyond what is needed
A sign-in form needs a username and a password. If it also wants repeated one-time codes, a password for a different service, or an installation, stop there.
About the padlock
A padlock says one thing: the connection is encrypted. It says nothing about who is at the far end. Basic certificates are issued free and automatically, which is why nearly every imitation page has one now.
What to do when a browser raises a certificate warning is close the tab — not click through it.
Once a route checks out
Bookmark it. Next time you will arrive from your own bookmark instead of a fresh search, which removes the opportunity for a search result to be something other than what it looks like.
The short version of this checklist lives on the access and verification page, and if somebody sends you an unfamiliar hostname, the domain names page covers what to do with it.