How to remove personal info from fraudulent DNS listings?

October 12, 2012 9:17 AM

I've stumbled on a couple of internet domains registered in my name and contact information that I've got nothing to do with - not sure how to proceed.

They were set up around 9 months ago, and I do recall having some odd charges show up on a credit card in the same period - the account was closed and the charges reimbursed, but I'm concerned some of the fallout from that incident is still floating around with my name and address on it.

The registrars are listed as "Internet.bs" and "0101 domain" and I've found a couple of small hosting sites in NJ and PA (Linode and 1&1 Internet). My instinct is to start there, but I'm uneasy having never heard of any of them (not that there aren't 10 gazillion domain resellers and web hosts I haven't heard of, but still) and was wondering if folks had any different ideas about who to contact and how to unravel this - Thanks!

posted by jalexei to computers & internet (7 answers total)

Both Linode and 1&1 are well established, reputable companies. I use Linode for hosting myself. You can contact them at 855-454-6633.
posted by borkencode at 9:33 AM on October 12, 2012

ICANN requires WHOIS data to be accurate. So if you don't really own those domains you should be able to complain to either registrar and they'll do something about it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:28 AM on October 12, 2012

Google shows a whole bunch of weird pages on internet.bs (link goes to Google search results, not site)
posted by zippy at 11:33 AM on October 12, 2012

Both Linode and 1&1 are well established companies with good reputation in the hosting business, so you can fee completely safe contacting them. The registrars, however, are unknown to me so I can't recommend anything there even though the registrar would be my first stop.

To find out any other domains that might be in your name, try a reverse whois service.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:28 PM on October 12, 2012

Well, what are the names of the domains? They could be worth something and they are basically yours.

What is strange: internet.bs offers free privacy whois protection. They could have put your data there without you ever knowing. Something does not seem right.

...1&1 are well established, reputable companies

1&1 is a established and notorious company. Fixed that for you!
posted by yoyo_nyc at 4:44 PM on October 12, 2012

I agree that Linode is established and reputable, 1&1 ... well, they have a reputation, but not the good kind.

However, the registrar is really who you want to deal with. Though I guess technically, now these domains are yours. Hooray for you!
posted by Brian Puccio at 5:42 PM on October 12, 2012

Thanks all -

However, the registrar is really who you want to deal with. Though I guess technically, now these domains are yours. Hooray for you!

Thanks! (oi vey ;-) - Figured I'd need to deal with the registrars - I guess I'm worried (knowing just enough about these types of things to be dangerous) that there might be registrars in cahoots with the shady folks(?) And forgot to mention that one of the name servers is shown as being in Russia, FWTW - One wrinkle is that while my name, address and phone number are accurate, the email shown looks like a throwaway one unrelated to any I have, so I figure I'd have some hoops to jump through if I tried to claim them.

Well, what are the names of the domains? They could be worth something and they are basically yours.

Several related, truncated and misspelled references to a common food item, so worth is probably minimal.

What is strange: internet.bs offers free privacy whois protection.

Agreed - the domains I legitimately own are all private, so this seems like a curious way to take advantage of someone else's ID -
posted by jalexei at 9:24 PM on October 12, 2012