Hotel Chain Join Fight Against Internet Scammers

Marriott International and Hilton Hotels have joined a coalition of companies lobbying the US Government to tighten laws on ‘cyber squatting’.

Cyber squatting is the term used to describe internet fraudsters who buy domain names that are similar to those of big corporations to sell counterfeit goods, install malicious software on computers or dupe users into giving away sensitive information like credit card details.

The Marriott and Hilton are part of a ten company group, called the Coalition Against Domain Name Abuse, who have hired lawyers to lobby the government.

The coalition says cyber squatting costs companies worldwide more than $1bn a year in diverted sales and enforcement expenses.