Typosquatting, Domain Parking and Pickles
I recently received a letter from the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia informing me that I was eligible for a refund as a result of a class-action lawsuit.
If you traveled abroad between 1996 and 2006 and used a credit card, you’re probably one of the 30 million or so consumers who’ll receive a similar notice.
The refund is part of a proposed settlement against Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club and others for overcharging consumers on foreign currency conversions and failing to disclose fees. While the defendants deny any wrongdoing, they did agree to fork over $336 million to avoid further litigation.
Although the settlement gives you the option of requesting a refund (a maximum of 1%) based on your total purchases during the period in question, I opted for the $25 "easy refund." I began filling out the form when I noticed you can submit your application online, at this website: www.ccfsettlement.com.
But, being a lousy typist, I accidentally typed “ccffsettlement.com” in my browser, and found myself on this page.
If you’ve ever misspelled a domain name, chances are you’ve probably run across a similar page full of sponsored links. The practice, fittingly enough, is known as typosquatting.
Although typosquatters can direct you to sites full of porn or badware, most are relatively harmless, like this one, which is a domain parking site.
After I retyped the correct URL in my browser and applied for my refund (which was quick and easy), I went back and plugged the domain parking site into Who is to see who owns it.
Turn out the site is registered to "Pickle of the Month, Inc." Really.
Googling “Pickle of the Month” led me to this page: www.pickleofthemonth.com.
Although selling pickles on the Internet didn't prove to be a sustainable business model, it looks like the owners are finding other ways to make some money off the Web.
They registered the site on December 4th, just as the notices were due to start arriving, and were smart enough to tap into a potential customer base of 30 million—some of whom will invariably land on their page and click on some of their sponsored links.
They’ve already succeeded in luring one bad typist. Don’t let them fool you.