Facebook Filed a Lawsuit Against Domain Registrar Namecheap for Letting Phishers to Register Look-Alike Domains

Facebook filed a lawsuit against the biggest domain name registrar for letting the phishers to register fake domains that appear to be associated with Facebook apps.

These domain names are registered by attackers aiming to trick the people into believing that they are the legitimate ones and used for phishing, fraud, and scams.

Facebook found that 45 such domains are registered impersonating Facebook and other services. All the domain contact details are hidden using whois guard data protection.

The WhoisGuard is privacy protection run by Namecheap that hides the name, address, phone number and email of the domain owner.

Facebook reached Whoisguard between October 2018 and February 2020 about the dispute with the domain names, but they decline to cooperate, reads the Facebook blog post.

Here are some of the domains registered to impersonate Facebook services such as instagrambusinesshelp.com, facebo0k-login.com, and whatsappdownload.site.

Last October 2019 Facebook filed a lawsuit against another domain registrar OnlineNIC and its proxy service that allows users to register fake domains.

“Our goal is to create consequences for those who seek to harm and we will continue to take legal action to protect people from domain name fraud and abuse,” Facebook said.

Look-alike domains pose a serious threat, it makes harder for readers to differentiate mail from trusted sources.

Recently Microsoft takes control of the 50 look-alike domains used by North Korea based Thallium hacker group for breaking into customer accounts and network for stealing sensitive information.

The impersonation attacks are on the rise, phishers continue to register domains that look close enough to the brand’s domain to fool trusted customers.

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