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More .coms, .nets, .orgs? FTC warns about potential for scams

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

The Federal Trade Commission today sent a letter to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the organization that oversees Internet domain names, expressing concern about the organization's plan to dramatically expand the domain name system. ICANN intends to allow website operators to apply for new gTLDs starting on January 12, 2012.

Click here to download a copy of the letter

The Commission urged ICANN to begin a pilot program that would address any potential problems before accepting new applications for domain names. The letter said "the potential for consumer harm is great."

The FTC believes that the rapid expansion of the number of generic top-level domain names (gTLDs) – the part of the domain name to the right of the dot, such as ".com," ".net" and ".org" – could make it easier for scam artists to abuse the system and avoid being detected by law enforcement. The increase in website names that could be registered in the new gTLDs would put "infinite opportunities" at the fingertips of scam artists, who take advantage of consumers through tactics such as using misspelled names to create copycat websites, the Commission's letter states.

Learn more or file a complaint by visiting the FTC's online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.