The announcement of Libra and Calibra by Facebook triggered the inevitable: fake or copycat domains, for phishing purposes.
Using alternate character sets in punycode to emulate a domain’s actual characters visually, is not new.
In the case of Calibra.com, for example, the registration of Calìbra.com is actually that of an IDN, that was registered by Russian scammers.
The cybercriminals quickly set up a Calibra.com clone, copying the content and setting up a mechanism that would lead to the exposure of Facebook usernames and passwords of unsuspected visitors.
Phishing campaigns do a lot of damage globally. According to The Independent, the number of Libra and Calibra domain registrations increased quickly:
“On 19 June there were more than 100 domains registered relating to Libra, while several dozen were also registered that referenced the associated digital wallet Calibra.
For the most part, these registrations will likely be from people hoping to sell the domain back to Facebook for a marked up price, however others may have more nefarious intentions.”
The bottom line: Facebook is using just Libra.org and Calibra.com and any other domain is out of the equation. Domain investors should be aware of this opportunity by scammers to steal social media account credentials, along with any other valuable assets – such as domain names.
Calibra.com
The U.S. Congress just sent Facebook Mark Zuckbucks a letter to stop the Libra project.