Is That Link Safe? Here's How to Check

You get a text: "Your parcel is out for delivery. Update your address: bit.ly/xyz...". Is it real? Is it a scam? Let's find out — without clicking.

The golden rule

When in doubt, don't click. Go to the company's official website yourself, or the app you already have. If the message is real, the same info will be there.

Three free tools to check a link

1. VirusTotal (virustotal.com)

Paste the URL. VirusTotal runs it through 70+ antivirus engines and gives you a verdict in seconds. If even 3–4 flag it as malicious, skip it.

2. urlscan.io

See where the link actually goes, what it loads, and screenshots of the destination — without visiting it yourself.

3. Unshorten.it

Short links (bit.ly, t.co, tinyurl) hide the real destination. Unshorten.it reveals the full URL before you commit.

Red flags in a URL

• Misspellings: paypa1.com, micros0ft-login.net
• Weird subdomains: apple.com.secure-login-check.com (the real domain is the last part before the slash — in this case secure-login-check.com, not apple)
• Extra hyphens, numbers, or country codes you don't expect

A 30-second workflow

1. Hover or long-press the link — read the actual URL.
2. Paste it into VirusTotal or urlscan.io.
3. If anything looks off, delete the message.

That's it. Thirty seconds of caution beats thirty days of cleanup.