insight 

There have been a couple of stories in the media over recent weeks from Trading Standards Officers in the UK and the US Federal Trade Commission about consumers being tricked into buying fake goods on the Internet by companies pretending to be based in the UK. As online shopping becomes increasingly prevalent in the UK, and with 72% of UK consumers preferring to search for a .co.uk web site than a .com, it is more important than ever that consumers take sufficient care when shopping on the Internet. Whilst it’s great to see more and more people buying and banking online and consumer confidence reaching new heights, it does not remove the need for vigilance and care. When Nominet took over the operation of .uk in 1996, a decision was taken to operate .co.uk and .org.uk as “open” second level domains, meaning that any type of organisation based anywhere in the world could register these domain names on a first come, first served basis. This early decision means that whilst the vast majority of registrations are from the UK, a small proportion of registrants are from non-UK businesses and consumers. Many will be perfectly legitimate, for example by trading businesses or organisations wanting to protect their trademarks overseas.

Domain names in .co.uk are allocated on a first come, first served basis and there are currently 140,000 new registrations every month. Whilst we don’t police applicant locations, it does not automatically follow that consumers in countries with stricter registration policies or application vetting are necessarily any better protected. In practice the physical address used to register a domain name does not of itself provide any guarantee of legitimate supply of goods. Nor does dealing with a business based in the UK. As ever, it is imperative that internet shoppers are careful, especially when dealing with a new site for the first time or in response to unsolicited email.

As an organisation we are keen to find ways to create a safe on-line environment for UK consumers and business. Given the technology involved, there are not many quick or easy fixes. However, an example of a simple safeguard is for people to carry out a Nominet WHOIS check if they have any concerns or want to do a quick check - sites who trade online are not able to opt out of having their information displayed in the Nominet WHOIS. Where these details are out of date or inaccurate, we reserve the right to cancel the domain name and regularly do if the details are not updated/corrected promptly. We also work closely with the Police where issues arise and Nominet’s Policy Advisory Body are already engaged and working with the UK Payments Administration Ltd (formerly APACS) to look at how we can better work together against on-line fraud.

So, if you’re shopping online and you have any doubt about the web site you are using then you can reduce the risks by performing a WHOIS search or other simple checks. There is good advice on how to reduce the risks when purchasing goods online readily available, for example, see Get Safe Online. As they say: if the offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.