Internet Scams and Cybersquatters
Written by Ricardo d Argence   
Friday, 06 February 2009 14:03
You know that you have become a victim of cybersquatting if someone is holding your domain name hostage until you pay a large sum of money for it.
by RicardodArgence


You know that you have become a victim of cybersquatting if someone is holding your domain name hostage until you pay a large sum of money for it.

When most business were not savy about the commercial opportunities on the Internet, it could be that the pratice that's come to be known as cybersquatting originated at a time.

Selling or using a domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of someone else's trademark, that is cybersquatting. For the most part cybersquating is when someone buys up common domain names with the intent to later sell them to existing businesses in order to make a profit of off those businesses.

One of the popular strategies cybersquaters do is to register your name with Yourdomain.org or YourDomainName.Biz and then try to seel them to you at a very high price.

If that fails, they may urge a competitor to get a domain similar to yours, and facilitate the theft of your traffic, business, and clients.

You can sue cybersquatters if they go as far as ti infringe on trademarks or if they in any way make you or your company libel for their actions. But domain-related lawsuits can take years and cost dearly. While it may be effective, arbitration can also be expensive and time-consuming.

Prevention is cheaper and easier. It is not only inexpensive and easy it is the smart also very smart for you to register common variations of your domain yourself, this will help to prevent others from doing so therefore preventing any possible damage that can be done.

Fill in a form that locks in authorized entities of your claim of other domain names. You can buy these names and keep them under your roof. Go through your domain name registrar, it will provide you information to include, such as contact information, who should be contacted if someone wants to register your domain.

There is only a limited amount of time for you to finish filling out the authorized entry form. If there is an equivalent com, net or org name, there would be a failure to enter a claim during a certain time frame means the registering entities will not check to see over. They will not check the IP Claim Service database. Meaning, you could lose your .info or .net version of your domain name.

Cybersquatting opportunities are fading fast, since the majority of companies are currently aware that getting ahold of their domain names is a must.

Do not permit any cyber-squatters to blackmail your business and destroy what you have worked hard to create on the net. An investment in your domain name is much more than an investment in your web site. You will also want to do your best to obtain the rights and authorizations to any domain names that are similar to yours. Allowing your domain names to expire or become compromised can be even more dangerous and result in costing you even more money in the long run.

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