- Decodo reports a 68% increase in digital squatting scams over five years
- Techniques include typosquatting, combosquatting, TLD squatting, and homograph attacks that trick users into sharing credentials or payments
- WIPO recorded 6,200 domain disputes in 2025, the highest ever; Decodo encourages brands to register domains beyond .com to protect them
Digital squatting is becoming increasingly popular among fraudsters, destroying businesses and their reputations at an unprecedented pace.
This is according to a new report from Decodo, which said there has been a 68% increase in these cases in half a decade.
In a new press release shared with TechRadar Pro, Decodo said that according to data from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), there were 6,200 domain name disputes in 2025, the highest ever in the organization’s history and a 68% increase since 2020.
Fraudulent purchases
Digital squatting is a form of scam where hackers register domains that mimic established brands. It can include typosquatting (registering domains that are a typo in a legitimate company, such as “Microsfot” instead of “Microsoft”), combosquatting (adding keywords to brand names, such as “microsoft login” or “ebay discounts”), Top-Level Domain squatting (registering a new brand domain, such as for an established brand domain for an established company domain) and homographic attacks (by use of visually similar characters, for example “rnicrosoft” instead of “microsoft”).
Cybercriminals can do all sorts of malicious things when they trick people into visiting their websites. They can trick them into trying to log in and steal credentials for important services. They can even make them “buy” something, as was the case with Decodo.
Using its old branding, Smartproxy, hackers registered fraudulent domains and tricked people into buying services they never received.
“We have spent years earning our customers’ trust through reliable service and ethical practices,” said Vytautas Savickas, CEO of Decodo. “Imitators don’t just steal money. They provide low-quality services far below what real companies provide. All fake websites make it harder for honest companies to gain trust and for customers to know who to trust.”
Decodo argues that prevention offers the most cost-effective approach to the problem, and encourages organizations to register domains beyond their primary .com address.
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