Beware of Fraudulent ICANN Domain Name Certificates

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), a non-profit group that manages the global Internet system, recently announced that "some online entities have attempted to sell fraudulent 'certificates'" using ICANN's logo. These entities claim that the certificates are "required to protect generic top-level domain (TLD) names" and, of course, are asking for a fee from the registrants they contact.

Here are some examples of the fraudulent certificates (click on them to see a larger view):



Please be aware that ICANN does not issue certificates to registrants nor do they collect fees directly from registrants. If you receive a notice about needing a certificate to protect your domain name, please disregard the message and report it to ICANN's Contractual Compliance department at [email protected].

ICANN recommends registering your domain name with a ICANN accredited registrar. We are proud to be an ICANN accredited registrar and want our customers to know that we will contact you directly about any requirements for your domain name. The majority of the domain extensions we support do not have requirements or restrictions. Check out our TLD page to see if the domain extension you own has any restrictions - and for more information click on the TLD. If you are not sure if there is anything required of you, please feel to reach out to our support team via our online chat, email ([email protected]), or phone (+1-650-262-0100) and we would be happy to help you.

Images of the fraudulent certificates are courtesy of ICANN. For more information, read ICANN's statement on fraudulent domain name certificates.

Post by Robyn Norgan