Internet firm restricts virus-themed website registrations

BOSTON (AP) — An internet firm is ending the automated registration of website names that include words or phrases related to the COVID-19 pandemic, an attempt to combat coronavirus-related fraud.

Los Angeles-based Namecheap Inc. made the pledge after a federal judge in Texas ordered the takedown of a website the U.S. Department of Justice accused of stealing credit card information while offering fake coronavirus vaccine kits. The website allegedly offered what it claimed were World Health Organization vaccine kits in exchange for a $4.95 “shipping charge.”

There is currently no vaccine for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Experts say it will take 12 to 18 months to develop one.

The DOJ said the site, coronoavirusmedicalkit.com, was harvesting credit card information. The site registered that domain with Namecheap. Its unknown owners were listed as “John Doe” in court papers and could not be reached for comment. A Panama phone number listed on its registry was disconnected.

Namecheap CEO Richard Kirkendall said in an email to customers Thursday that the company was banning terms such as “coronavirus,” “COVID” and “vaccine” from the company’s domain availability search tool, a move that prevent the automated registration of names including those terms. He said company employees could manually register legitimate domains.

The largest U.S. domain registry business, Arizona-based GoDaddy, has not adopted a similar policy but spokesman Dan Race said it has a “human review process that effectively detects and disrupts fraudulent content.”

Toronto-based Tucows Inc., a top competitor whose retail registration business is called Hover, has also not removed virus-related keywords from its customer-facing search engine. The company is, however,...