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Chameleon typo squatters
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November 20th, 2007 by 
Jay Westerdal
Chameleon typo squatters are nothing new, but I have never blogged about them so I thought I would share with people on what they are and how to spot them. If you look up a domain name’s whois record the domain appears to be owned by the legitimate owner however that is never the case with a chameleon. These domains hide in plain sight and use victim’s contact information instead of their own. They can be spotted a few ways. One, the email may be the only thing wrong in the record. Two, the administrative email may be correct but the domain is at a registrar that the owner never uses. I was looking up GoogleWishes.com the other day and I spotted a Chameleon.
Detection is often easier if the victim keeps their domains at one registrar then it is actually very easy to spot them.
Here is a good example of a chameleon:
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Posted in Domain Typo Generator, Google |
November 20th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I’m not sure I understand why someone would register a chameleon domain and then do nothing with it (I get a blank page).
Are they simply sitting on the real estate in the hope that Google (or some other chump) will come along and offer them a bunch of money?
IMO, it’s a bonafide loser domain.
It seems to me that TM typo, click-alike, and chameleon domains exist for one reason:
Spam, Scam, Scram.
Ms Domainer
November 20th, 2007 at 10:02 pm
Why register a domain name in someone elses name? Can’t Google just contact the registrar and claim the name since it’s registered in their name?
/Andreas
November 20th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
“Can’t Google just contact the registrar and claim the name since it’s registered in their name?”
Heh, there’s an idea. Just depends on who they assign to do the legwork.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:14 am
Peace. I was led all the way here, to this place, in order to find out why I couldn’t use “AluminumCokeCans.com” in a parking program — so now I know. CokeCans.com was one of the first names I registered as a spanking brand new newbie. Little did I know there would be consequences. Even so, I don’t apologize for my learning experiences, esp. since I didn’t set out to “scam” anyone, as much as grab one of the first few names that seemed not to be already taken. Get over it. We all make mistakes.
Peace be with you,
ititiiti
November 21st, 2007 at 6:31 am
I was able to earn a little over $60,000 on mispellings last year, one of my most profitable in the past five years was DonLepre.com a mispelling of Don Lapre the infomercial guru.
November 21st, 2007 at 8:08 am
Jay,
I think this is a perfect reason why the Registrant Search tool should be taken down. Hypothetically, if someone performed a Registrant Search using Google as the company name query, the domain name you mentioned would show up as being owned by Google, when it clearly is not.
It might be easy to detect if a company owns very few domain names, but if a company has several hundred, it may be more difficult to determine their real names vs. names that were registered to them by someone else.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:23 am
ititiiti,
You’re right; newbies do make mistakes–I have made plenty myself, but there are plenty of “business” people out there who sign up TM typos for the sole purpose of ripping off others via phishing schemes and drawing surfers to look-alike and click-alike sites for pharming passwords.
Personal names cannot be trademarked (and for good reason, I might add), so that’s why mike1110 can freely admit to having a name typo and making money from it.
From my understanding, if mike1110 had DonLepreInc.com (or whatever Don Lapre’s trademarked version happens to be), then he would be TM infringing.
I do believe that large companies (like Google and Coke) ought to be protecting their trademarks better, perhaps even hiring a domain specialist to register new TM domains, set up their own registrars, TM typos, develop typo generators of their own, pursue TM infringers, monitor their TM’s, etc.
Smaller companies could work together on developing a domain consortium (or join one) whose purpose would be the same, but the cost would be spread.
In any case, one should not kill the messenger just because some bad eggs are “hiding” their typo TM’s in plain sight.
Best,
Ms Domainer
November 21st, 2007 at 10:35 am
Let me get this straight…
The idea behind the chameleon domain is to hide your personal info (to avoid being sued, tracked down or otherwise made to take responsibility for your actions) and to pass cursory scrutiny by some trademark enforcement searches.
But that only works if the victim does NOT have a complete list of their domains. I’ll just bet that google _does_ have a complete list, cross-indexed nine ways from sunday.
So this really just allows someone to avoid being reported by a third-party (a competitor)… unless they check the email address.
Not exactly rocket science. As a blackhat ploy I give it a 2-star rating.
November 21st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
And sometimes others put a old email of you in other places, then is a fake domain and they retain as a resellers. SOmeweek ago i have that problem with a domain purchased in tucows and with one of my old email addresses. I reactivate the old email and catch the squatting.
November 23rd, 2007 at 9:15 am
On topic: It’s blatantly despicable and seems WAY too stupid for anybody but a spammer.
On comment: It seems like that for Mike to make $60K on clicks at DonLepre.com would mean people were clicking Don Lapre links to get to get to the “infomercial guru”. If true, it does sound like the parking company is part of the problem and might rightly be viewed as a partner to the registrant. Personally, I would be too nervous that Lapre may get tired of paying advertisers to pay me to spell his name correctly and might offer up the idea of unfair competition or some such.
Off topic: It’s pretty much impossible for me to imagine making $60K in a lifetime from Don Lapre clicks, let lone a year. That’s mostly because in 1995 when my cousin offered to register his name for free with the purchase of a $100-per-year website, he refused and said he didn’t see how it could help him. And, as I just this minute try to view his website I find it will not resolve. But hey, maybe that’s why so many people are looking for him at Mike’s domain!
November 24th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
which whois did you use to see the data?