Diverting traffic to a third-party website
The owner of a domain name can redirect it to the site of his choice without the owner of the destination URL being notified and/or agreeing. In cases of cybersquatting, he can set up a redirect to divert natural traffic to another site.
Redirect to a competitor’s website
Netflix has obtained the transfer of a disputed domain name associating it with VIP(netflixvip.com). The address was used in 2017 to redirect to a competing website offering pirated copies of works offered by the subscription video-on-demand platform.
In 2016, a cybersquatter registered the two Iranian domain names utube.ir and youtube.ir. The disputed domain names are used to redirect to a video-sharing site www.fars.tv, the same business as YouTube.
Facebook has reclaimed the domain name facebookghana.com using the notoriety of the famous social network in favor of another local network named www.ghananation.com. The social network won another out-of-court procedure for 101 domain names featuring Facebook or Instragram in the .TOP NewgTLD, redirecting users to the socialmarketingmadness.com site, where they can buy “Likes” or “Followers”.
The Club Med vacation clubs have taken a dim view of the domain names clubmedbarmitzvah.com and clubmedbatmitzvah.com, using their trademark to sell vacations on the Destination Mitzvah website.
In February 2017, Danish roof window brand Velux, recovered the disputed domain name devis-velux.com redirecting to the generic site devis-couvreur.com offering other brands.
Speculative redirection
In 2016, a cybersquatter registered the domain name of lingerie brand calzedonia.online, redirecting it to the website of its competitor Victoria’s Secret. The registrant demands $250,000 to surrender the cybersquatted domain name and the malicious redirect. The Italian brand offered 250 euros, which was rejected by the defendant, who reduced his counter-proposal to 2,500 euros, which was also rejected.
Cosmetics retailer Sephora discovered that sephora.ir redirects to www.nela.ir, a Persian website selling beauty care and cosmetic products. Before recovering the domain name in an out-of-court procedure, the cybersquatter offered to sell the cybersquatted domain name for $10,000.
An alleged Disney fan uses the two domain names disneyinsider.com and insidedisney.com to redirect them to a site dedicated to The Jungle Book. He asks Disney for a lifetime subscription to the Disney Vacation Club in Key West, Florida, in order to give up the cybersquatted domain names.
Redirection to counterfeit sites
Cybersquatted domain names can take over brand names and redirect them to malicious sites. The Foot Locker brand has recovered the domain name footlocker-fr.com, redirected to a counterfeit store selling counterfeit brand shoes.
The Solidnames monitoring service alerts brands on a daily basis to the registration of a domain name that includes their names and is potentially redirected to a third-party site.
Users of the Solidnames SecURL service are warned when a redirect is set up among the monitored names.