A website address that’s a virtual consequence after your identity is “encroached upon” by someone known as a “squatter” on the Internet. Cyber forensic experts and lawyers say that “cybersquatting”— an unauthorised occupation of someone’s identity on the web, is assuming “extortionist and threatening” dimensions.
A check on the domain name of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi results in — .com, .net, .org, .tv, .co.uk, .in, shows as already being “taken”.
A squatter registers websites in the names of popular brands and personalities, who may not have websites of their own, cyber experts explain, leads to misrepresentation in the Internet media about the individual or the brand and the victim is forced to cough up money to regain his legitimate identity thereby making it “extortion” business, they contend.
‘Click fraud’
Now-a-days the revenue model of the squatters is based on the pay-per-click advertising model and is part of a larger ‘click fraud’. The squatted sites are also very useful to ‘phishers’, who may use the site to phish-out personal data.
“For example, a squatter may book a bank’s name and sell it to a phisher who can construct a login interface similar to that of the bank and collect logins or passwords,” says Pradeep Akkunoor, a Certified Fraud Examiner.  “The Indian grievances of cybersquatting have been dealt under the Trademark Act, as the IT Act 2000 does not have a word about cybersquatting. The silver-lining is that Indian courts have been consistent and encouraging enough to give ‘injunctions’ to the aggrieved parties,” Duggal says.
A report by India Forensic Research Foundation, an anti-cyber fraud body, found that banks are most vulnerable as they are huge chests of money. “One such widely known scheme of fraud is phishing, which is fraudulent acquisition of sensitive personal information such as passwords and credit card details by masquerading as someone trustworthy,” the report said.