How to Recover a Hijacked Domain
Domain hijacking is the process by which a third party illegally obtains another webmaster's website domain. Domain names can be hijacked through a variety of methods. For example, a hacker may obtain a website owner's personal information by impersonating a registrar in emails to the site owner or even by hacking the registrar's system and gaining access to the user account profiles. Regardless of how your domain was hijacked, you will need to act quickly in order to reclaim your URL.
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Instructions
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Reclaiming a Hijacked Domain Through Your Registrar
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Contact your domain name registrar. The registrar is the site where you originally registered your website such as GoDaddy.com or HostGator.com.
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Provide the customer service representative with your account information so they can access your account and see your account history.
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Explain to the customer service representative that you did not give anyone permission to transfer your domain to a new account.
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Fill out all paperwork sent to you by your registrar. Typically, you will receive an affidavit to sign and other identifying paperwork to prove that the domain name was legally yours before the transfer. Please note that the required paperwork will vary from one registrar to another.
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Wait for a response from your registrar. If the registrar does not secure back your domain in a reasonable amount of time, you will need to contact ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).
Using ICANN to Recover Hijacked Domains That Have Been Trademarked
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Visit the ICANN Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution website to determine where to file your dispute. The ICANN List of Approved Resolution Providers can point you in the right direction.
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Click on the provider for your region to find the correct dispute resolution process.
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Fill out all necessary paperwork for the dispute resolution service provider you choose. The paperwork required will depend on which provider you choose.
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Pay all associated fees to begin the process. A typical resolution fee will cost upwards of $2,000 and will take approximately two months to complete.
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Continue filling out all documents sent to you by the dispute resolution service in a timely manner.
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Tips & Warnings
If your domain was transferred to the same registrar where it was already registered, contact that registrar quickly before it is transferred to a new registrar. For example, if your domain was transferred from your GoDaddy account to the account of another GoDaddy user, it would be beneficial to contact GoDaddy quickly to reverse the exchange before the domain is sent to another registrar organization.
Be sure to lock your domain via your registrar profile. This ensures that your domain cannot be transferred without added verification, helping to stop domain hijacking in many cases.
Recovering a non-trademarked URL can be a very tough process, if the dispute resolution steps provided on this page do not yield the results you desire, filing a lawsuit may be necessary. Please note that laws regarding domain hijacking are still in short demand and getting back your original URL can take months -- even years -- to accomplish. And your attempt may not be successful when a decision is finally made.
