How and where can I file abuse complaints?

If you need to report a domain, website or email address involved in illegal/abusing activities, here are some tips you may follow to make this process easier. Your actions will depend on the type of the issue you would like to report. Here is the brief information regarding the most common issues:

1) Spam. If you receive spam emails, you should report the issue to the email service provider used for sending emails. You may find their contact details using the originating IP Whois (the originating IP can be found in email headers).

If you are not sure how to read email headers, you may contact us by submitting a ticket to Domains - Legal and Abuse department, and we will gladly assist you with this.

NOTE: Unfortunately, we are not able to investigate spam complaints if unsolicited emails are sent using third-party email services. This is because we have no access to the servers these emails originate from, and there is no way for us to check the server logs to confirm the fact of abuse. Domain names (email addresses) can be easily spoofed, so in similar cases, we are able to take action regarding the domain only in case it is blacklisted by trusted organizations (like SpamHaus or SURBL), or in case a report is received from a legal authority.

Tip: When reporting spam, please provide the full text of the email including its headers.

NB: Regarding text message (mobile, SMS) spam cases, please contact the mobile operator which was used to send this text message or file an official complaint to Federal Communication Commission.

2) Phishing is the act of attempting to acquire sensitive information (usernames, passwords, or credit card details) using fake websites that are almost identical to the legitimate ones. If you detect such a website, you may report it so that further actions are taken.

Reporting phishing will require submitting a ticket to Domains - Legal and Abuse department. We would highly appreciate it if you attach a screenshot of the abusive website and specify the target of the phishing attack.

3) Copyright infringement. If you detect a website that infringes your exclusive rights to some content, you will need to submit a DMCA-compatible notice to our Domains - Legal and Abuse department. Make sure your notice meets all the DMCA requirements which can be found here.

Also, you might want to contact the domain holder directly regarding the issue. You can find their contact details using any Whois tool. If Whois details are hidden by our WhoisGuard privacy protection service, feel free to send your email to the protected email address (like ****.protect@whoisguard.com). It will be forwarded to the real email address of the domain holder.

4) Fraud schemes. If you believe you are the victim of an internet crime, or if you are aware of an attempted crime, you can file a complaint through Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://complaint.ic3.gov. You may contact either your lawyer(s) or the local authorities in order get the issue resolved. We will assist them any way we can.

5) Child pornography. We take reports of child pornography very seriously. Please submit a ticket to Domains - Legal and Abuse department for further consideration.

6) Malware. Such issues should be investigated by a company that provides web hosting services for an abusing site. In case the site in question is hosted with us, please submit a ticket selecting Hosting - Legal and Abuse department so that we can investigate the issue.

7) Trademark infringement. In case a domain registered with Afriregister contains a trademarked word or word combination you have the rights to, please submit a ticket to Domains - Legal and Abuse department for further instructions. You might also get in touch with the domain holder directly using Whois details assigned to the domain.

8) Invalid Whois details. If you consider contact information of any particular domain (registered with Afriregister) to be invalid, please submit a ticket with us choosing Domains - Legal and Abuse department. If your contact details are assigned to the domain you do not own or control, please attach the documents that confirm your identity to the ticket. This might be a color quality photo of your passport, driver's license, or any other government-issued identification, and a utility bill with your name and address.

Please mind that issues reviewed by Legal and Abuse department can be resolved via ticket only as most cases need more detailed investigation than Live Chat operators can conduct. If you have a ticket opened with Legal and Abuse department and would like to provide more details or have further questions, please continue the conversation via the ticket. Our general ticket response time is 2 hours.

NOTE: Ticket response time may not indicate the time frame the issue will be resolved within. Depending on the particular case and type of the issue, it may take a different amount of time for our investigation to be carried out. Your patience and understanding are highly appreciated.

You may also submit an email to abuse@afriregister.com directly.