Indian Company Registers Fake Instagram, WhatsApp Domains; Gets Sued By Facebook

In recent years, Facebook has actively targeted companies or services that create fake domains of Facebook apps (Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, etc) for clicks or malicious purposes.

This time, Facebook has roped in an Indian domain provider, Compsys Domain Solutions Private Ltd, and filed a lawsuit in Virginia against its 12 domains.

According to Facebook, the domains were “designed to deceive people by impersonating our family of apps”. A few domains mentioned by the social media giant include facebook-verify-inc.com, instagramhjack.com, and videocall-whatsapp.com.

Christen Dubois, IP Litigation Director for Facebook, said that the tech giant took this step “in order to prevent fraud and stop the malicious use of our company and product names.”

Dubois also mentioned reaching out to the Indian company to discuss the domains but chose to file a lawsuit after receiving no response from the domain provider.

He also said the lawsuit is part of an ongoing effort to save netizens from fake domains that impersonate Facebook apps for “phishing, credential theft, and other methods of online fraud.”

This is not the first time Facebook has filed a lawsuit against a proxy service or domain provider. Back in March, it sued popular domain provider Namecheap for domains that allegedly intended to “deceive people by pretending to be affiliated with Facebook apps.” The tech giant filed a similar lawsuit against OnlineNIC back in October 2019.

This comes at a time when the company is facing a lot of criticism for not acting on the US President’s controversial statement on the platform.