Sometimes the nameservers will make it easy to determine where the website is being hosted. Here’s an example: Name Server: Name Server: Now you’re ready to collect some vital stats on the site itself so you can effectively make a report.Įxamine the nameservers in the Whois record to find out where a website is hosted. If the problem is with the content of the website, you need to report abuse to the hosting provider, as registrars typically cannot take action against content hosted elsewhere. It’s helpful to think of the domain as the street address and the hosting provider as the actual house. They tell Namecheap where to point their domain to reach their content. Domain name registrars act as “pointers” to websites but don’t always also host the actual content.įor example, people who register domain names with Namecheap can use other companies to host their content (although Namecheap provides both services). It’s important to understand the difference between a domain registrar and a domain hosting company. If you encounter a website with malicious content or malware, you need to reach out to the web hosting company and/or domain name registrar to report the site. If contact information is obviously fake (e.g., phone numbers that start with 555-), this can be helpful information when reporting the website. In most cases, a domain name used for fraudulent purposes won’t have accurate information in the Whois record. This handy guide can help you understand how to read a Whois record if you’ve never done it before. Finding Out Who Owns the Domain NameĪll domain name registrars offer a Whois service that lets you look up any domain’s owner and view certain technical details about the site. In either case, if you suspect a fake or hacked site, your first step is to determine who really owns the domain name. Learn more tips on how to spot a fake site. Fake Sitesįake websites may look legitimate, but these sites have been built from the ground up to lure users into surrendering vital information or opening their systems up to malicious software (malware). Alternately, they might gain access to a site at its usual domain and replace the content with their own. Hackers try to find vulnerabilities in popular website software that lets them forward traffic from the legitimate site to one that tries to install malware or get personal information. If you visit a website regularly and one day it starts forwarding to a bad website, there’s a good chance that the website itself (or occasionally the domain name) has been hacked so it points elsewhere. It’s important to start out by making this distinction if you can. Fake Site or Hacked SIte?įraudulent websites generally fall into two categories: fake sites have been created to install malware or perform other nefarious tasks, and sites that are real but have been hacked by someone trying to do the above. Here are some handy instructions on what to do when you come across suspicious domain names or websites. Did you know that websites that include malware, phishing scams, or masquerade as real businesses can be reported by ordinary web users like you?
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