The SWITCH fund that is acting as the registrar for national domains of Switzerland .CH and Lichtenstein .LI, reported on its website that its measures against the illegal use of .CH domain names and, in particular, fraudulent online shops. According to the report, exploiting the country’s reputable image, questionable individuals are active in registering names in the Swiss national domain to create fraudulent online shops. They are offering famous brands at dumping-level pricing to attract credulous users. SWITCH warns that all visits to such shops have negative results. At best users receive low quality counterfeit products and at worst nothing at all. Still worse, swindlers keep bank card details of online shoppers, as well as their email and delivery addresses and can use them to commit more crimes.
According to SWITCH statistics, about 700 names associated with fraudulent shops were deleted from the national domain .CH last year. By the end of this August the number reached 5,000. This happened not only because these people became more active but also because of the registrar’s more efficient measures against them. SWITCH-CERT member Michael Hausding said SWITCH had managed to upgrade its cooperation with the Swiss authorities and the Federal Police and had introduced proactive methods of combatting domain fraud. The publication calls domain .CH the safest national domain in Europe.
