.ie registry deletes almost 1500 .ie names

Last week the Irish registry took almost 1,500 .ie domain names offline. All names were used for fraudulent purposes.

The process was always the same: .ie names that had recently expired but were still linked to social media accounts were re-registered. Once this .ie domain name was active again, a password reset took place for the social media accounts, after which they were hijacked from the previous owner. These accounts were then used for fraudulent purposes.

A .ie registration involves a validation, but if you enter an address in Ireland, you already get pretty far. Once a contact has been validated by the Irish registry, it can also be easily reused for other registrations under the .ie extension.

The Irish registry will now be vigilant in scanning every new registration and reactivation of .ie domain names.