2026 German Prevention Award for the Fakeshop-Finder
The Fakeshop-Finder project, developed by the Consumer Advice Center of North Rhine-Westphalia and mindUp, received the 2026 German Prevention Award at the German Prevention Day in Hanover.
The 31st German Prevention Day took place on April 13–14, 2026, in Hanover, bringing together 3,000 experts from 30 countries representing the fields of public administration, academia, politics, the judiciary, and social work. This year’s main theme was “Artificial Intelligence in Prevention.”
In this category, the award went to the Fakeshop-Finder, which is operated by nine consumer protection agencies under the leadership of North Rhine-Westphalia at the web addresses www.fakeshop-finder.de and warnung.fakeshop-finder.de. The platform was primarily designed and developed by mindUp Web + Intelligence GmbH of Konstanz. The award, presented for the first time, is conferred by the non-profit organization German Prevention Day (DPT) in cooperation with the German Foundation for Crime Prevention and Assistance to Offenders (DVS).
Over the four-year duration of the Fakeshop-Finder project, more than 100,000 fake online stores have already been identified. Annual user numbers have nearly doubled in recent years, with over 5 million uses by consumers last year.
The jury praised the Fakeshop-Finder project, which is unique in Germany, and highlighted its potential for adaptation in other countries.
What is the Fakeshop-Finder?
The Fakeshop-Finder (fakeshop-finder.de) is a solution developed by mindUp Web + Intelligence GmbH that helps internet users identify fraudulent online stores. Since August 2022, users have been able to check for free whether an online store is trustworthy. Users simply enter the website address (URL) of a shop on the Consumer Advice Center’s website. Using a large database and artificial intelligence, the system analyzes whether a shop is safe or if there is suspicion of fraud. Over 100,000 known fake shops and more than 1.7 million genuine shops from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are stored in the database for comparison.
How does the Fakeshop Finder protect consumers?
The Fakeshop Finder can also be used on other websites to detect and block fraudulent online ads and promotions. This prevents consumers from encountering dangerous offers from fake shops while browsing, even if these shops place ads on Google or Facebook, for example. Fake shop operators even go so far as to hack third-party websites. In doing so, they attempt to redirect visitors from otherwise secure sites to fraudulent shops.
