---
title: "Lookalike domain"
url: https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/lookalike-domain
description: "A lookalike domain is an internet domain registered to resemble a real company's, often by one swapped or added character, so its emails and websites pass a quick glance."
---

# Lookalike domain

**Definition:** A lookalike domain is an internet domain registered to resemble a real company's, often by one swapped or added character, so its emails and websites pass a quick glance.

Also called: Typosquatted domain, Cousin domain, Spoofed domain. Category: Fraud.

If Example Carrier LLC uses `examplecarrier.com`, a fraudster might register `examplecarriers.com`, `example-carrier.com` or `examp1ecarrier.com` (with the number 1). On a phone screen, which often hides the full address, the difference is easy to miss. Lookalike domains are a standard tool in [business email compromise](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/business-email-compromise) and broker impersonation attempts that don't involve a hijacked mailbox.

For a factor, they appear in bank-change requests, fake NOAs and release letters, and debtor contacts on rate cons. IC3's guidance on BEC is to check that URLs and sender addresses really match the organization, watch for misspelled domains, and set email clients to show full addresses.

> **Red flag: Red flags** A domain registered days or weeks before the email arrived (check the registration date with a WHOIS or RDAP lookup). A familiar name with an unfamiliar domain ending. A reply-to address that differs from the sender. A signature block with a new phone number.

Keep each client's and debtor's real domain on file, compare every payment-related email against it, and verify by phone at a known number. The [remit-to change checklist](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/remit-change-checklist) builds this in.

## Related

- [Business email compromise (BEC)](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/business-email-compromise)
- [Broker impersonation](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/broker-impersonation)
- [Remit-to change](https://carrierkyc.com/glossary/remit-to-change)
- [How to verify a remit-to or bank-account change: an SOP for factors](https://carrierkyc.com/guides/remit-to-change-verification)
- [Bank-change verification checklist](https://carrierkyc.com/tools/remit-change-checklist)

## Sources

- [FBI IC3: Business Email Compromise: The $55 Billion Scam](https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2024/PSA240911) (Public service announcement I-091124-PSA, 2024-09-11)