WHOIS Domain Search, Shutting Down Scam Sites
Posted on July 29, 2009 by Online Scams in Articles
WHOIS Domain Search, Shutting Down Scam Sites
Help Shut Down These Scam Sites……
With the amount of fraud going on in today’s world you can always check the origins of any web domain. It is in fact, public information. It is much easier than you might think, and you should get in the habit of checking each sites public information, before purchasing from them. For example, a store might have printed that they have been in business for over 10 years (on their site). Just by checking the WHOIS report you can actually verify the creation date of their site. Also, there is a lot of useful information that is provided to you. I would steer clear of any site that doesn’t match their WHOIS information.
I would recommend using www.domaintools.com , who.is, or whois.com. Really, they are all generally the same, but I do prefer domaintools. For this tutorial I am going to check the information on my site, http://www.report-online-scams.com. Simply, go domaintools and type in the url of my site.
What I Use To Shut Down Scam Sites
You will see all kind of information about my site. One of the main things I want to focus on. is the ICANN Registrar, which shows that my domain was purchased through godaddy.com ( a popular web domain and hosting site). Also, there are three things that are also important, the creation date, expiration date, and the last time it was updated. These are very self-explanatory. I would be leery on any site that is not updated weekly.
Another couple important thing that this WHOIS report shows is the SSL Cert (which is where the site is hosted.) Also, it shows my personal information, such as, name, address, and phone number. If you can’t get response using their sites contact form you might email them directly in hopes of getting a response.
Taking Action To Shut Down Scam Sites
So you might be thinking, all this is great but how and I apply it to protecting myself from scams?
I have simply created a site (www.report-online-scams.com) that allows people to contact me about frauds that they have been victim of. When I get enough complaints on a site, such as www.dealstead.com (a site which I recently shut down) I will conduct a WHOIS report on them. What I am looking for is, who do they host their site with, and where did they purchase their domain from?
I simply find out this information by looking at a WHOIS report, and I visit both the domain and hosting site. I will contact them via email and inform them that they are partnered with an exposed scam. As added proof provide them to a link from site exposing their scam, emails, ect.
When enough heat is put on these domain and hosting site the result is that they are shut down (the scammer). Another great thing about this is you can kill a whole bunch of scam sites, that are hosted under the same hosting service. This is a great way to stop online scams at the root of the problem. Bear in mind that you should only use this information to your advantage if you are victim to a fraud, not just because you are angry with a company.
