I think one root of the problem is how fast scammers can register domain names and have the fake websites – e.g. for PayPal etc… – up and running in seconds. The root of the problem is the automated process of the domain name registrations.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the registrars have to do something in order to protect the individuals from phishing scams. The current situation is: A complaint about a scammer’s domain – e.g. payppaal.com – has to be legally resolved and it takes ages until the court’s final decision to take the domain name down, while phishers need only a few minutes or hours to setup their scam websites and steal dozen of credit card details.

The registrars therefore have to setup something like a prevention mechanism to filter a list of suspicious words that can be used to register domains for phishing scams and raise an alarm to the registrar staff or hosting companies. With this way the transaction won’t continue until proper verification of proof of identity of the suspicious individual attempting to register the suspicious domain name.

Domain policymakers and stakeholders must work together to reduce frequency of phishing scams.

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