Cyber Charting

Cybersquatters are individuals or companies that
create Web addresses that are remarkably similar --
perhaps only one or two letters off -- from addresses
for well-known companies or products. For example,
known cybersquatting Web sites include
dellcomputersystem. com instead of dell.com and
samslcub.com instead of the correctly spelled
samsclub.com.

Cybersquatters' goal is to hijack Web traffic from
legitimate Web sites to their counterfeit sites and
turn a profit.

While some cybersquatters make money by filling their
sites with typical pay-per-click (PPC) ads, others
take a more devious approach.

"Cybersquatters are getting more sophisticated as they
are trying to take advantage of consumers," Alan
Drewsen, executive director of the International
Trademark Association (INTA), told ABCNews.com. "As
the number of domains increase, it just increases the
possibility of this fraudulent behavior."

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Some "sophisticated" tactics include
cybersquatter- controlled sites designed to look like
bank Web sites that trick consumers into revealing
sensitive personal information and phishing, the use
of fraudulent e-mails to bring traffic to those fake
sites.

These methods have serious ramifications for
consumers. In 2006, 3.5 million adults admitted to
revealing sensitive personal or financial information
to a phisher, according to market analyst Gartner Inc.
Of those, 2.3 million lost money, with each victim
losing an average of $1,244.

"Cybersquatters are targeting well-known brand owners
and consumers more and more," Drewsen said. "Consumers
rely on genuine Web sites for a safe online
experience, and we are working to protect that
experience."

To bring the problem of cybersquatting to light, five
Fortune 500 companies and INTA members, including
Microsoft Corp., Dell Inc., Time Warner Inc., Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. and Yahoo! Inc., filed legal actions in
the last week against a total of 22 cybersquatting
operations.

"The problem [of cybersquatting] is becoming so
prevalent," Drewsen said of the group effort.

That's a fact not lost on Microsoft, Aaron Kornblum, a
senior attorney on Microsoft's Internet safety
enforcement team, said.

In the last year, Microsoft has launched 15 legal
actions and recovered more than 2,000 domain names and
more than $1.17 million in illegal profits.

"Billions of dollars are being made in this consumer
diversion," Kornblum said, explaining that Microsoft
is only one of many companies targeted by
cybersquatters.

In their three lawsuits filed in the last week, aimed
at operations in Bronx, N.Y., Indiana and Canada,
Microsoft is working to win the rights to domain
names, such as microsoftword2007. com and
wwwxbox360.com. Microsoft accuses the owners of these
domain names and others of being cybersquatters who
allegedly filled their pages with pay-per-click ads to
turn a profit.

"Consumers rely on trademarks and brands to know that
they are dealing with a trusted entity [and getting] a
good or service of the high quality that they demand
and expect to receive from that brand, and
[cybersquatters] are preying on that good will and
preying on that promise," Kornblum said.

So how should consumers protect themselves from
"preying" cybersquatters?

INTA says consumers should:

- Type the names of desired Web sites into a search
engine, such as Google or Yahoo!, rather than directly
into the browser.

- Bookmark frequently visited pages.

- Be aware of e-mails with generic greetings or that
ask the recipient to update his account's username and
password.