A lookalike domain is registered to resemble a real one so that an email or link passes a quick glance. Once a business enforces DMARC, scammers often switch to these. The FBI warns that spoofed and slightly altered email addresses and websites are a core BEC technique (FBI IC3).
8 common patterns (using example.com)
| Trick | Example |
|---|---|
| Missing letter | exmple.com |
| Doubled letter | exammple.com |
| Swapped letters | exmaple.com |
| Look-alike characters | examp1e.com, rn for m (exarnple.com) |
| Unicode homoglyphs | exаmple.com with a Cyrillic “а” |
| Different TLD | example.co, example.net, example.com.au vs example.au |
| Added words | example-invoices.com, example-au.com |
| Hyphen or dot tricks | ex-ample.com, example.com.payments.net |
How to spot them in email
- Expand the sender: read the full address, not the display name.
- Read the domain right-to-left from the last dot:
example.com.payments.netbelongs to payments.net. - Be most careful with any email about payments, new bank details or urgent invoices. See how to spot a fake invoice email.
What to do if you find one
- Check whether it has MX records (can it send or receive email?) and a website.
- Report phishing use to the registrar’s and host’s abuse contacts (look up via WHOIS/RDAP).
- Warn staff and key customers.
Questions
Is registering a lookalike domain illegal?
Registering one is not automatically illegal, but using it to impersonate a business or commit fraud is. Registrars and hosts act on abuse reports, and trademark owners can use the UDRP process.
Should I buy all the lookalikes of my domain?
Buying a handful of the most obvious ones (common typos and your main country TLD) is cheap insurance. You cannot buy them all, so monitoring matters more.
See which lookalikes of your domain are live
Our free scan checks about 50 typo, homoglyph and TLD-swap variants of your domain and shows which ones exist.
Scan my domain freeLookalike reporting helpMore guides
- What is DMARC and do I need it?
- How to stop someone spoofing your email domain
- Fake invoice email scams: how to spot one
- Hacked Facebook business page: what to do
- Is this a scam number? How to check
- All guides
General information only, not legal or financial advice. ImposterWatch is operated by Cloud Investments FZE (UAE) and is not a background check or private investigator service.