Category: News

Beware: Fake ‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ beta websites already springing up online

Post author By J.B.
Post date May 2, 2013

Another new video game announcement, and with it comes the scammers.

Activision officially revealed Call of Duty: Ghosts this week, and now a number of fake beta websites are already online promising unsuspecting users free beta keys to the game.

Not only do the sites use the game’s artwork, but the operators of these websites use domain names similar to the title to trick people into believing that they are on an official Call of Duty website.

While these sites are obviously phony, there’s always someone who falls for the trick.

GhostsBeta.com (WHOIS) was registered in early April as rumors of the game spread. Today, the website (pictured below) tells visitors that beta access is strongly limited and that their site is the only place where gamers can gain access. All you need to do is tweet a message or publicly recommend the site on Google+ to get your fake beta key. At of the time of this story, dozens have fallen for the scam.

GhostsBeta.net (WHOIS) was just registered this week and the owner has wasted no time setting up a landing page (pictured below), but it looks like their is still more work to do. You are encouraged to choose a console, however, when you click the Submit button, you are redirected to a suspended account page located on blackops2beta.com (another fake site that was quickly outed for scamming users).

As excitement grows for the game, expect the pace of fake beta sites going live to increase.

Dozens of domain names have already been registered and not by Activision. Here’s a sampling:

CallofDutyGhostsBeta.com (WHOIS) – parked at Register.com
CallofDutyGhostsBeta.net (WHOIS) – parked at Go Daddy
CallofDutyGhostsBeta.org (WHOIS) – does not resolve to a website
CallofDutyGhostsBeta.info (WHOIS) – parked at Go Daddy
CallofDutyGhostBeta.com (WHOIS) – parked at NameCheap

Believe it or not, Activision didn’t register CallofDutyGhosts.com (WHOIS) or CallofDutyGhost.com (WHOIS) before cybersquatters got to the names first.

CallofDutyGhosts.com redirects visitors to the game’s listing on Amazon.

CallofDutyGhost.com is redirecting visitors to http://www.callofduty.com/ghosts/masks, however, it’s registered to an resident of Illinois who has listed the name for sale on Go Daddy for $2,000 USD.

Activision may not sit idle.

In 2011, the company won a dispute for ModernWarfare3.com.

In the past year, other video game companies have taken legal action against people operating fake beta websites. Take-Two has filed several complaints over fake Grand Theft Auto V websites and domains — and won.

Talking about this story: SlashGear, play3.de, Examiner.com and Gamezone

Tags activision, call of duty, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Ghosts Beta

Will Microsoft call its next generation console the Xbox Fusion? Domain names point to yes

Post author By J.B.
Post date April 30, 2013
1 Comment on Will Microsoft call its next generation console the Xbox Fusion? Domain names point to yes

If Microsoft has learned anything from its previous mistakes with launching a product without the matching domains — then it’s quite possible that the company’s next generation console will be called the “Xbox Fusion”.

Microsoft owns the name in a variety of different extensions and it has for years.

Speculation about the name being called “Xbox Fusion” isn’t anything new. But what separates “Xbox Fusion” and only a few other names from the rest of the list, is that not only does Microsoft own the dot-com (WHOIS), it owns a slew of other domains like XboxFusion.info, XboxFusion.biz, XboxFusion.de, XboxFusion.co.uk – the list goes on and on.

Speculation of the next gen console’s name has gone wild, fueled lately by the recent leak on Reddit of what may be the logo.

Names being kicked around include the Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, Xbox Infinite, Xbox Gold, Xbox 8, Xbox Durango, Xbox Next, and more.

Domain investor Andy Booth – who knows a thing or two about domains with names like samurai.com – dropped me an email out of the blue saying he believes Microsoft will go with “Xbox Fusion” based on the number of names the company has registered and that the “infinity” symbol is also interpreted as “fusion”.

In case you haven’t been keeping a score card of Microsoft’s matching domains, here’s a look:

Xbox720.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxInfinity.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

Xbox8.com (WHOIS) -Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxDurango.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxInfinite.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft does not own the domain.

XboxFusion.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

XboxNext.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

XboxGold.com (WHOIS) – Microsoft owns the domain.

So will Microsoft go with a name it doesn’t currently own? Or with a name already in its portfolio?

We should know in late May.

For those of you who don’t remember, Microsoft got off to a somewhat embarrassing start with the initial release of the Xbox console back in 2001 by not even owning the trademark to Xbox. Although it eventually acquired the mark, Microsoft, like many big companies and their worst kept secrets, has often failed to secure the domain name ahead of time before the product was announced or launched. Halo 4 and Kinect.com are just two examples.

Currently, XboxFusion.com redirects visitors to Xbox.com, while XboxNext and XboxGold redirect users to Bing.

Talking about this story: SlashGear, IGN, Joystiq, Game Informer, NowGamer, MCV, Neowin, Softpedia, Games.com, VG247, Gameranx, GamingBolt, Den of Geek, BeefJack, Game Rant, WinBeta, Connected Digital World, Ping! Zine Web Tech Magazine, This is Xbox, iDigitalTimes, iTech Post, Gamers.fr, GameZone, 411mania.com, Game Guru, Gameblog, GameStar, Digital Spy, Digital Trends, Shacknews, TechRadar UK, Xbox 360 – The Official Magazine, Ubergizmo, PC Games, PC INpact, Vandal, Eurogamer.it, WinFuture, Gaming Everything, Geekets, International Business Times, Game7, Gamenguide, Gadget Insiders, GameDynamo, gamona.de, Jeux Video.fr, jeuxvideo24.com, GameFly, playm.de, Bitbag, Develop, WebProNews, TechnoBuffalo, Xboxygen, Warp Zoned, The Slanted and NeoGAF

(Image of next-generation Xbox logo via Reddit)

Tags microsoft, xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox Fusion

Salesforce starts redirecting $2.6MM domain social.com to its Salesforce Marketing Cloud site [UPDATED]

Post author By J.B.
Post date April 17, 2013

After acquiring the domain name social.com nearly two years ago, Salesforce.com is finally putting it to use.

Earlier today, the cloud computing company began redirecting the name to its Salesforce Marketing Cloud website, located at www.salesforcemarketingcloud.com.

The purchase of social.com, the biggest domain sale of 2011, was initially kept private. Though the name still sits behind WHOIS privacy, a little sleuthing back in 2011 using Network Solutions’ “Forgot Your Login?” page, turned up Salesforce.com as the buyer. The transaction was later confirmed by Marc Benioff at Salesforce.com’s Cloudforce New York in November 2011.

Salesforce revealed the Marketing Cloud during Dreamforce ’12, which the company describes as the world’s only unified social marketing suite.

A redirect may or may not be the best use of $2.6 million domain name, but at least it’s doing something.

For the past two years, the domain name didn’t resolve to an active web page on the web.

Salesforce made no official announcement regarding the use of the name, but with its marketing cloud facing competition, it looks like it’s going to start taking advantage of some type-in traffic.

UPDATE 1 April 23, 2013: Salesforce.com is expanding its social ad offerings with a new product called Salesforce Social.com, reports TechCrunch.

Talking about this story: Domain Name Wire

Tags Salesforce, SalesForce.com, Social.com

Disputes Featured News Video Games WIPO

Take-Two continues legal fight over Grand Theft Auto V beta domain names

Post author By J.B.
Post date April 7, 2013

Take-Two Interactive has been plagued with scammers who register domain names, and then set up websites that falsely claim to offer beta codes to Grand Theft Auto V, which will release on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC later this year.

The legal team at Take-Two has been busy the past few months, filing several complaints with the Word Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) over names like betagtav.com and gta5betacode.com. In the last few days, five more cases involving GTA V have popped up on the website over at WIPO bringing the total case count to 12.

The latest round of disputes involves the following names.

gtavbetacodes.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5betacodes.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5-beta.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5freedownload.com (WHOIS / Case)
gta5download.org (WHOIS / Case)

While some of the domains don’t resolve to a website or are parked, others are full-fledged websites with the intent to deceive users.

Here’s a screenshot of gtavbetacodes.com, which tries to get unsuspecting users to download a file to their computer.

To date, Take-Two has won disputes over getgtavbeta.com, betagtav.com, gtavbeta.org and gtaavbeta.net.

Talking about this story: Examiner.com

(Image of Grand Theft Auto V via RockstarGames.com)

Tags Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto V, GTA V, PS3, Take-Two, Take-Two Interactive, Xbox 360

Disputes Featured National Arbitration Forum News Video Games

Microsoft takes ownership of XboxGold.org domain as rumored reveal date nears

Post author By J.B.
Post date March 18, 2013

In no surprise, Microsoft has taken ownership of the domain XboxGold.org, weeks after filing a complaint (Case Number: 1483759) with the National Arbitration Forum.

While no official ruling has been announced online, the name was transferred to Microsoft this week, according to WHOIS records.

There is now only one more active case involving an ‘Xbox Gold’ name, though it may be decided soon. The dispute over Xbox-Gold.com (Case Number: 1484502) was submitted a day after the XboxGold.org case.

The name of the next-generation Xbox has been the subject of much speculation, with reports of possible names like the Xbox 720, Xbox Infinity, Xbox 8, Xbox Durango, Xbox Next and others.

In February, Microsoft quietly acquired Xbox Gold domain names (including XboxGold.com) and registered even more.

The Xbox name debate may finally be settled in April, when it’s rumored that the next-generation console will officially be unveiled.

UPDATE: Seeing as the domain’s previous owner handed over the name to Microsoft before a ruling was made, the complaint was officially withdrawn.

Talking about this story: NowGamer and This is Xbox

Tags microsoft, Xbox Gold