Payments company World Remit reports fraud; registrar suggests names to criminals.
World Remit (www.worldremit.com) says that it has learned that there are at least two fake websites.
These are the fake websites the company is aware of and working to have
deleted:
worldremitcustomerhelp[.]com - registered 17 September 2021.
ns11.jimdo.com 162.159.24.115
ns12.jimdo.com 162.159.25.153
Registrar: PSI-USA, Inc. dba Domain Robot
worldremitpayment[.]com - registered 17 September 2021.
DNS: NS15.DOMAINCONTROL.COM 97.74.107.8
NS16.DOMAINCONTROL.COM 173.201.75.8
Research by ChiefOfficers.Net shows that this domain was registered by GoDaddy.com - a registration company that we have, for many years, criticised for permitting the registration of obviously fake domains, amongst other conduct.
DomainControl.com is registered by Wild West Domains, a company that we used to see in relation to criminal enterprises some years ago but significantly less so today. DomainControl.com was registered in 2002. DomainControl's servers are hosted by Akamai, a company which takes considerable care over its customer base to avoid damage to its own reputation. This is, therefore, a somewhat surprising place to find a service that allows obviously fraudulent websites to appear.
Worryingly, Name.Com, a registrar, advertising on WhoIs.com (from which the above information is sourced, suggests many similar addresses including the following:
Suggested Domains for worldremitcustomerhelp.com
world-remit-customer-help.live
$2.99 worldremitcustomerservice.live $2.99
worldremitcustomerhelps.live $2.99
world-remit-customer-service.live $2.99
worldpaycustomerhelp.live $2.99
Getting fake websites blocked or removed from the web is not easy. Domain registrars are almost universally reluctant to block domains pending investigation. They are equally reluctant to block registration of suspicious names. DNS service providers are often reluctant to reject calls to a URL at their servers.
WorldRemit says "If you are concerned that you’ve entered your details on a fake site, contact our Customer Care team ( https://clicks.worldremit.com/... ) immediately. And if you spot any fake websites, let us know ( https://clicks.worldremit.com/... ) so we can help keep our customers safe."