Global investment powerhouse BlackRock has taken legal action to combat potentially fraudulent domains and “typosquatting” websites that exploit its name. On October 10, BlackRock filed a legal complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia against the owners of 44 internet domain names. These domains contained keywords such as “Blackrock,” “Aladdin,” “capital,” “crypto,” and “investments.”
BlackRock asserts that these domains were registered with malicious intent to exploit consumer confusion, divert web traffic, and potentially engage in activities like pay-per-click ads, malware distribution, and email phishing attacks.
Citing studies that highlight the prevalence of “typosquatting” where domains mimic legitimate sites through typographical errors, BlackRock’s legal team from Wiley Rein LLP argued that over 95% of the 500 most popular websites on the internet have been subject to such tactics.
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BlackRock’s complaint is based on the contention that the entities behind these domains have violated the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act by registering domains that are confusingly similar to BlackRock’s own brand.
While some of the domain names tested by Cointelegraph were either nonfunctional or clearly involved in cybersquatting, BlackRock, using publicly available domain registration data from the Whois database, aims to identify the domain owners. The company seeks to gain control of the offending domains, seek damages, and prevent further cybersquatting and trademark infringement under the BLACKROCK, ALADDIN, and BLK brands by the defendants.
Copycat domain names are frequently employed in conjunction with advertising platforms like Google and Facebook to promote scams and distribute malware. Earlier this year, it was reported that victims had collectively lost over $4 million to fraudulent websites that were promoted using Google Ads. BlackRock’s action is part of a broader effort to protect consumers and the integrity of its brand in an environment where online scams and fraudulent websites are proliferating.
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