Innocent Danes exploited for the registration of dubious web shops on the internet.

The contact information of two Danes has been used for registering an expired domain, formerly owned by a shooting club, and setting up a fake web shop.

According to the contact information registered with Danish TLD administrator DK Hostmaster, the site is owned by a girl named Asta, while the associated phone number seems to belong to another girl named Anja. Both insist that they have got nothing to do with the domain.

Danish consultancy firm EIT has previously documented in a cyber crime analysis how expired Danish domains are being systematically re-registered by residents of China, and are often being used to set up phony web shops. Occasionally, contact information belonging to Danish citizens is being used, but the web shop templates seem to be the same as those used by the Chinese registrants.

The phony web shops usually offer brand name products at a low price, but the customer will rarely receive even a counterfeit copy. Looked at more closely, the web shops often contain suspicious tells, such as a poor and obviously machine-translated language.

DK Hostmaster sends out a physical confirmation letter upon registration of a domain, but the domain can be activated just by clicking a link in an e-mail. Only if a letter is returned as “Recipient unknown”, or if the recipient contacts DK Hostmaster, will the domain be de-activated.

The chairman of the club that formerly owned the domain is concerned about the fraudulent web shops, and suggests that it may be possible to implement a higher level of security and validation in the registration process. On the other hand he insists that the process should not be too bureaucratic, as easy access to domains is an integral part of the internet.

Published:

December 20, 2015

Media:

Version2 - Danish online news media for IT professionals

Original:

Uskyldige danskere udnyttet i registrering af fup-butikker på nettet”.