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Your AI recommended a store. Is it a scam? (Free API, no auth, transparent heuristics)

A developer has released a free, transparent domain reputation checker designed for AI agents that recommend products or stores. The tool, available at marketnow.site, uses heuristic checks to flag suspicious domains and requires no API key or registration. It is positioned as a lightweight alternative to commercial services like WHOISXML and IPQualityScore, offering open CORS and cacheable responses.

read2 min views3 publishedSep 4, 2026

AI agents increasingly recommend products, stores, and URLs to users. But when an agent says "this store looks good," there's no automatic check of whether the store is a scam.

Commercial services like WHOISXML, IPQualityScore, and CheckPhish sell domain reputation data — but they're paid, require API keys, and are black boxes. You can't see why they flagged a domain.

A free domain reputation checker with transparent heuristics. No API key. No registration. CORS open.

Try it live: https://www.marketnow.site/scam-checker.html

API:

curl "https://www.marketnow.site/api/scam-check?domain=example.com"

Response:

{
  "domain": "example.com",
  "decision": "TRUSTED",
  "risk_score": 0,
  "reasons": [],
  "checks": {
    "url_shortener": { "triggered": false, "detail": "Not a known URL shortener" },
    "suspicious_tld": { "triggered": false, "detail": "TLD not in suspicious list" },
    "typosquatting": { "triggered": false, "detail": "No typosquatting pattern matched" },
    ...
  }
}
python
import requests

def is_safe_to_recommend(url):
    result = requests.get(
        f"https://www.marketnow.site/api/scam-check?domain={url}"
    ).json()

    if result["decision"] == "SUSPICIOUS":
        return False, result["reasons"]
    elif result["decision"] == "CAUTION":
        return None, result["reasons"]  # Let user decide
    else:
        return True, []

This is heuristic v1. No threat feeds. A new, clean scam returns UNKNOWN, not TRUSTED.

What this means:

This is not a substitute for commercial threat intelligence. It's a free, transparent first check that agents can call without an API key.

Feature Commercial (WHOISXML, IPQualityScore) UTA Scam Checker
Price Paid Free
API key Required Not required
Transparency Black box Every check shows its reasoning
CORS Usually closed Open
Cacheable No Yes (5 min cache)
Registration Required Not required

If you're building an agent that recommends products or stores (product research, dropshipping, affiliate), the agent should check the domain before recommending:

safe, reasons = is_safe_to_recommend("suspicious-store.xyz")
if not safe:
    agent_response = f"I cannot recommend this store. Reasons: {reasons}"
else:
    agent_response = f"This store looks safe to explore."

GET https://www.marketnow.site/api/scam-check?domain=example.com

This is the first "policy pack" for UTA (Universal Trust Adapter). The scam checker runs alongside the credential verification pipeline. Both are free, no auth, CORS open.

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