It is easier than ever for fraudsters to create their own websites for malicious purposes—often creating dozens of similar websites to defraud individuals, steal credentials, or confuse investigators tracking their activity.
Designed for counter fraud investigators with no technical background, this course breaks down how websites are built, the technology behind them, and how this can be used to identify patterns and connections. You will learn to analyse HTML, JavaScript, hosting details, and registration data to trace fraudulent websites back to their creators and uncover networks of connected malicious sites.
This practical fraud investigation training course requires no prior technical knowledge.
This hands-on online course combines clear technical explanations with practical investigative exercises.
You will work through real-world fraud website scenarios, use free investigative tools to analyse live sites, and develop professional intelligence reports documenting your findings.
Upon successful completion, you will be issued a Certificate of Completion.
Cifas Members receive a 13% discount.
Length: 16 hours of study.
Delivery: Self Study - via an online learning platform in which students can work at their own pace.
Introduction to Investigating Websites
Build foundational knowledge of how the internet and websites operate:
• Gain a foundational understanding of how the internet works.
• Understand the basics of how websites are hosted, coded, and maintained.
• Learn the investigative approach to examining fraudulent or malicious websites.
Understanding HTML and CSS
Learn to extract investigative clues from website code:
• Understand what HTML and CSS are and the basics of coding in these languages.
• Identify copied code, templates, and design patterns linking multiple fraudulent sites.
• Use browser tools to view and analyse website source code without specialised software.
JavaScript and Interactive Website Features
Understand how fraudsters use JavaScript to deceive victims:
• Learn what JavaScript does and why fraudsters use it.
• Identify JavaScript libraries and frameworks used across sites, and spot malicious patterns.
• Recognise credential-stealing scripts and redirect techniques used in fraud schemes.
Web Technologies and Technology Fingerprinting
Build profiles of fraudulent websites to identify common ownership:
• Understand content management systems (CMS) and how to identify them.
• Use browser tools and free services to detect technologies, plugins, and themes.
• Build a comprehensive profile of a website's technical infrastructure and compare profiles across multiple sites to identify shared ownership.
Website Open-Source Intelligence
Investigate website registration and hosting to uncover fraudulent networks:
• Learn techniques for investigating website registration data, and what can still be discovered despite current privacy regulations.
• Analyse hosting patterns, name servers, and SSL certificates to identify shared fraudulent infrastructure.
• Use open-source data to trace connections between seemingly unrelated fraudulent website.
Investigative Practical
Apply your skills to a complete website fraud investigation:
• Understand the step-by-step investigative process from initial site discovery to building a linked network of websites.
• Work through a final practical exercise putting what you have learnt into practice.
• Produce a professional intelligence report presenting your findings.
This course is also ideal for anyone wanting to understand more about how the internet and websites work in practice.
Who is this course aimed at?
Designed for counter fraud investigators with no technical background.
