07 Nov 2026
Typosquatting is when someone registers a misspelled version of your domain to catch people who mistype it. Lookalike domains go further, using swapped letters, extra words or look-alike characters to fool people at a glance. Both are widely used for phishing, fake offers and fraud against Indian banks, insurers, retailers and service brands.
This guide shows the common patterns, how to spot them early and the actions that actually work.
| Type | Example for "examplebank.in" | How it fools people |
|---|---|---|
| Typo | exampelbank.in | Swapped or missing letters |
| Homoglyph | examp1ebank.in | Look-alike characters such as 1 for l |
| TLD swap | examplebank.co.in, examplebank.com | Same name, different extension |
| Combo | examplebank-support.in | Brand plus a trusted word |
| Subdomain trick | examplebank.in.secure-login.com | Real brand appears at the start |
| IDN homograph | Unicode letters that look Latin | Nearly identical in the address bar |
In India, festival sales, tax season and loan offers are popular times for these campaigns.
Automated domain monitoring flags most new lookalikes within a day of registration.
| Situation | Best action |
|---|---|
| Live phishing site | Report to host, registrar, CERT-In and Google Safe Browsing for takedown |
| Parked domain, no harm yet | Monitor; consider buying if cheap |
| Domain using your trademark in bad faith | UDRP or INDRP dispute. See UDRP vs INDRP |
| Fake emails from your real domain | Enforce DMARC. See our DMARC guide |
| High-risk variant still free | Register it defensively |
Read defensive domain registration to decide which variants are worth buying.
Client: General insurance company, Hyderabad
Challenge: A combo domain with "claims" in the name collected policy numbers and bank details.
What we did: Evidence captured, reports sent to host, registrar and safe-browsing lists, customer advisory issued, monitoring set up.
Results:
Client: Fashion and lifestyle retailer, Mumbai
Challenge: Every festival season, typo domains ran fake discount pages.
What we did: Pre-season defensive registration of 12 high-risk variants, monitoring with daily alerts during sale weeks, fast takedown process.
Results:
You cannot stop someone from registering a lookalike domain, but you can find it fast and limit the damage. Monitoring, smart defensive registrations and quick takedowns keep your customers safe.
Flying Stars handles all three with our domain and trademark protection service and wider brand protection suite.
