Have you ever heard of Domain Name scams?
Creating a website comes with many risks. By creating or commissioning a website, you will need to purchase a domain. By doing so, cybercriminals target you for fraudulent domain renewals and additional purchases. These types of cybercrime are known as domain name scams. It is important to know how to spot and avoid domain name scams to ensure your business isn’t conned out of money and left without a domain for your website, resulting in a loss of your website. A lot of our time is spent dedicating IT services to fighting cyber criminals, so let us give you some quick pointers.
Domain Name Scams
Cybercriminals pressurise businesses with domain name purchases and renewals. These are all fake and the domain renewal company doesn’t exist. They will offer the business ‘first refusal’ but rush them into purchasing the domain because apparently someone is about to buy this domain in minutes. The fraudsters try to trick the victims by making them think they are going to lose their domain and therefore lose their website. This results in the business paying a lot of money to a domain hosting company that doesn’t even exist.
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Take Action
- Suspicious or unfamiliar looking emails
- Pop-up boxes on various websites offering things that seem too good to be true
- Bespoke domain name offers received by email with a sense of urgency, with the email stating that someone else is going to purchase the domain if you don’t
- Domains that seem more expensive than usual or come from a site you don’t recognise
- Close down any browsers with a link you have clicked that you think it may be unsafe or any sites you think may potentially contain domain name scams
- Contact your bank if you believe you have been conned into buying a fake domain
- Contact us on 0800 680 00 88 and report it to Action Fraud
- Don’t click any links in emails that you are unsure about
- Don’t click on any pop-ups whilst searching the internet or visiting websites
- Never renew domains via email, go to a trusted domain seller with a good reputation and only make the payment if the site is marked as secure with the padlock in the address bar
- Discuss the possibility of dedicated IT support to help keep watch for potential cyber crime