This is my personal opinion on this matter.
To be clear, speaking in the context as an ICANN Accredited registrar, this is not DNS Abuse.
This unfortunate scenario feeds a narrative that often comes from parties seeking to shove trademark policing into the DNS Abuse category so that registries and registrars absorb these burdens.
It is really inappropriate.
Yes, the domain name was used as one of the components in this scam, but it was one of many moving parts, as were telephones, their hosting provider, job boards and other more focused moving parts. The content hosting provider played a larger role in the delivery of the actual payload than the registrar.
Third party DNS providers and Hosting Companies are not under the dominion of the rulesets or oversight of ICANN. Additionally, ICANN’s bylaws exclude the content of websites as being within scope.
A domain name registration cannot be presumed to be for malintent any more than someone needing to suspect someone buying a hammer at the time of purchase at their hardware store as a lethal weapon.
This registration could have just as easily legitimately been an HR department staff member at the company setting up a local recruiting ‘pop-up’ event, as this type of scenario ocurrs all the time – where the benefits of frictionless registration processes enable use cases of good actors more universally.
It sounds like a terrrible situation for those who got scammed, but in the context of what other moving…
