Managed Hosting News 
Wednesday, 22nd February 2012, 16:37:10
Firms fined for 'typosquatting' domain names
Two companies which used "typosquatting" to mislead customers have been fined £100,000 each.
A typosquatted site is one which poses as a well-known website and takes advantage of customers who miss-type the web address.
These companies register domain names that are similar to a brand (in this case 'Wikapedia' and 'Twtter') and then target users who accidentally log on.
R & D Media Europe and Una Valley BV used typosquatted sites to run premium-rate phone competitions for Macbooks and iPads.
The websites used were deliberately made to look like the genuine brands by using the same colours, fonts and logos.
People who logged on and mistook them for the genuine sites would be told that they had won a prize and asked to enter their phone numbers.
Subsequently, SMS questions would be sent to their mobile, and they would be charged £1.50 for every message sent or received.
PhonepayPlus, the UK regulator of premium rate telephone services who levied the fines against the companies, said that one duped user had been charged a total of £63.
A spokesperson said: "These 'squatted' sites informed consumers that they had won or could claim a prize, such as an iPad. In both cases, consumers were given the impression that to enter or claim they simply had to enter their contact details and answer some questions."
There was no indication that consumers would be charged and pricing was not clearly stated on the prize ads.
Charlie Abrahams, vice-president of brand protection firm MarkMonitor told the BBC that typosquatting is one of the most common methods of performing a cyber scam.
"The infringer is preying on the possibility of the consumer missing out a dot or making a mistake.
"It is breaking the law by attempting to make profit by impersonating a trademark," he said.
The sites were shut down and the firms were ordered to repay any money that they had taken.
Posted by Kevin Jenson
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