Outsmart the Scammers: Take Back Control of Your Brand with Less Hassle

Do you know how many domains matching your brand exist in the world but aren’t owned by you?  

Most brands use some level of monitoring to try and identify this but from a global perspective, very few are aware of their risks in the deep and dark places on the web. And while those stray domains might seem harmless, the reality is they’re a goldmine for opportunistic third parties—ones who can siphon off your traffic, demand exorbitant prices or worse, damage your reputation or scam your customers.  

For years, domain monitoring and drop catching services have worked in tandem to provide brands an opportunity to identify and reclaim risky domains. However, it is often a game of cat and mouse. Brands pour money into acquisitions but aren’t guaranteed the outcome they want on the free market.  

Now, GlobalBlock offers a new option to add to your brand protection arsenal. The Priority AutoCatch feature reclaims expiring or deleting names before they can be scooped up by third parties—without the bidding war or scrambling to monitor drops.   

This seamless, proactive approach puts your brand back in your hands, exactly where it belongs.   

Caught Before They Drop: How Priority AutoCatch Disrupts Domain Backorders  

Drop catching services offer the opportunity to ‘backorder’ expiring and deleting domain names, allowing customers to see domains that will soon re-enter the market and ‘catch’ them as soon as they drop.   

These services are often a key tool for domain investors, squatters and bad actors. However, these same tools are used defensively by brands seeking to reclaim branded domains third parties have registered, when they drop or delete.   

Unfortunately, relying on this competitive and cutthroat market can be expensive, time consuming and offers no guarantee that the brand will win out.  

One of GlobalBlock’s premier features is Priority AutoCatch, which functions similarly to a drop catching service—with some key advantages.   

When a GlobalBlock order is placed for a particular brand name, Priority AutoCatch will continue to monitor for domains matching that brand, even those that were already registered when the block came into effect. If these ever become available again, Priority AutoCatch seizes them and adds them to the block – but with one key difference.  

Because GlobalBlock connects to web extensions at the Registry level, Priority AutoCatch can reclaim a domain before it is released to the market via Registrars or drop catching services. In this way, it intercepts the ‘backorder’ process and ensures the domain won’t even make it to the aftermarket, yet alone fall into the wrong hands.   

This feature is available at no extra cost to all GlobalBlock customers, meaning brands pay no additional fees when a domain is caught and reclaimed domains are simply added to your account while you sleep.  

In its first year, Priority AutoCatch seized almost 10,000 domains for brand owners, including some high-value names many had sought to acquire for some time. Examples include:  

• tommyhilfiger.shop  

• ally.life  

• godaddy.zip  

• googlecloud.solutions  

• microsoft.services  

Constant Vigilance: Understanding Your Domain Risks  

Of course, the first obstacle to combatting the risks of third-party domains is simply knowing which domains exist and whether they post a threat.   

For most brands, domain monitoring services are key in this space. Corporate domain monitors will scan the web for domains matching a certain search term, such as a brand name or trademark, providing a notification to the brand when one is registered.  

This advanced warning gives brands an upper hand to identify fraudulent or infringing domains when they arise. Using this information, they can quickly choose to act by lodging claims or complaints, seeking to buy the domain from the registrant, or simply watching and waiting.  

However, often this knowledge is not enough.   

Domain monitoring is a valuable tool but on its own, can’t assist with combatting domain infringements. It may also be vulnerable to time delays, false positives, human error in analysis or even technical workarounds allowing bad actors to avoid detection.   

What’s more, domain monitoring can usually only identify that a domain matching your brand has been registered. It doesn’t provide any further detail to help you decide its level of risk.  

GlobalBlock’s enhanced Domain Vulnerability Report seeks to bridge this gap. The report scans the web for domains in GlobalBlock-covered extensions that are already registered, then provides a summary outlining whether the registration belongs to the brand itself or to a third party, as well as whether ecommerce or mail servers are present (in short, is the domain being used for nefarious purposes?).   

In an industry-first, the report also provides a snapshot of your brand’s overall risk profile, based on domain name check requests submitted by Registrars. This measures the market interest in domains matching your brand and could indicate potential competition or increased risk of brand infringement.  

The Domain Vulnerability Report provides unparalleled visibility for brand owners and is completely free to request via the GlobalBlock website or by contacting an accredited Agent.