There has been a reported case of a lady who was cheated of her money when she attempted to adopt a kitten from the website (www.spca.com.sg) – WRONG URL !!!
The original SPCA website address is actually www.spca.org.sg
This is the latest reported case of typosquatting (which is a type of cybersquatting) making a profit from unaware internet users.
Cybersquatting generally refers to the
practice of buying up domain names that use the names of existing businesses
with the intent to sell the names for a profit to those businesses.
Typosquatting, also called URL hijacking, is a form of cybersquatting which relies on mistakes such as typographical errors made by Internet users when inputting a website address into a URL address bar web browser. Should a user accidentally enter an incorrect website address, they may be led to an alternative website owned by a cybersquatter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typosquatting)
Such typosquatters are indeed cunning mouse-trapping unaware internet users. Trend Micro provides tips below to protect users from these types of attacks:
1. Users should be careful on what they type or click/visit. At the extremes end, they should know the correct URL of the Web site they are accessing at all times. For those who don't know the correct legitimate URLs, they may check the hits and topics of reputable search engines (e.g., Google) for more info on the URL
2. Use tools/applications that have Web reputation services in order to verify the validity of the Web site. Trend Micro products like PC-cillin has this (along with Web Filtering as well). Additionally, Trend Micro also has a free Web Threat Protection (WTP) plugin that users can install on Internet Explorer.
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