Typosquatting

Typosquatting is registering a website name that is one letter off from a real one, hoping you mistype or fail to notice and trust it.

Typosquatting: Typosquatting is the practice of registering web addresses that look almost like a real brand, with a missing letter, a swapped letter or an extra word. People who mistype, or who click without reading, land on a copy of the site built to steal logins or money.

Scammers register names such as a bank name with a doubled letter, or a shopping brand followed by words like offers, support or kyc. They then send these links by SMS and WhatsApp. The page copies the real brand, so a quick look from a hurried user does not reveal anything wrong. Fake customer care numbers on such pages are common too.

The habit that beats this is reading the address in full, and starting from the official app or a saved bookmark for anything involving money. Search results can also show paid fake ads, so a search is not proof. Be wary of every link that arrives uninvited, however professional its page looks. If you did type details into a copy, call your bank at once using the number on your card and change the password from a safe device.

Tips

• Open banks and payment sites from the official app or a bookmark you saved yourself.
• Read each letter of the address before typing a password or card number.
• Use Safeavio's link check to look at lookalike domains before you open a link.

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