BlackRock Sues 44 Copycat Domains and Typosquatting Websites, Including Crypto Lookalikes
In Brief
BlackRock took legal action against 44 domains mimicking its brand.
It alleges that these sites employ bad faith tactics to confuse consumers and profit through pay-per-click ads and malware.
BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers, has called for action against potentially fraudulent domains and “typosquatting” websites that it believes are capitalizing on its brand name. The company filed a legal complaint in a U.S. court, accusing the owners of 44 domains with names closely resembling its own. The domain names contain terms like “Blackrock,” “Aladdin,” “capital,” “crypto,” and “investments.”
The firm alleges that these domains were registered in bad faith, intending to exploit its name and confuse consumers, ultimately profiting through tactics including pay-per-click ads, malware, and email phishing attacks.
The investment giant argues that BLACKROCK, ALADDIN, and BLK, owned by BlackRock, have been intentionally violated through the improper registration, utilization, and distribution of the Defendant’s Domain Names.
“Typosquatting harms consumers by causing confusion with the legitimate sites being sought by the consumers and very often results in consumers’ computers being infected with computer viruses, “bloatware” or other unwanted software, consumer’s personal information being collected and misused, and/or consumers being presented with an endless stream of unwanted advertisements,”
the lawsuit read.
In the lawsuit, BlackRock cites studies revealing that over 95% of the top 500 websites on the internet are victims of typosquatting, where domains are registered with minor typographical errors related to legitimate sites.
Among the accused domains, there were some crypto-related ones, such as “blackrock-crypto.net” and “crypto-blackrock.com.”‘
The registration data shows crypto-blackrock.com is owned by someone who kept their identity hidden using Shield Whois. The domain includes BlackRock’s protected name, “BlackRock,” with the word “crypto” added, which is connected to BlackRock’s financial services. Meanwhile, blackrock-crypto.net is a web address registered to a person named Sergei Iudakov in Moscow, Russia, as per the WhoIs data.
BlackRock is attempting to identify the owners through publicly available domain registration data and is seeking the transfer of these domains under its control, as well as seeking damages and injunctions to prevent further cybersquatting and trademark infringement of its names.
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About The Author
Agne is a journalist who covers the latest trends and developments in the metaverse, AI, and Web3 industries for the Metaverse Post. Her passion for storytelling has led her to conduct numerous interviews with experts in these fields, always seeking to uncover exciting and engaging stories. Agne holds a Bachelor’s degree in literature and has an extensive background in writing about a wide range of topics including travel, art, and culture. She has also volunteered as an editor for the animal rights organization, where she helped raise awareness about animal welfare issues. Contact her on [email protected].
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Agne is a journalist who covers the latest trends and developments in the metaverse, AI, and Web3 industries for the Metaverse Post. Her passion for storytelling has led her to conduct numerous interviews with experts in these fields, always seeking to uncover exciting and engaging stories. Agne holds a Bachelor’s degree in literature and has an extensive background in writing about a wide range of topics including travel, art, and culture. She has also volunteered as an editor for the animal rights organization, where she helped raise awareness about animal welfare issues. Contact her on [email protected].
