Beckham sparks Galaxy web frenzy

Web opportunists are attempting to exploit thousands of pounds out of people looking for information on David Beckham's transfer move to the US.

Within minutes of Thursday's announcement that Beckham is to quit Real Madrid in June to join Los Angeles Galaxy, key domain names were snapped up.

According to domain name management firm NetNames, cybersquatters register valuable domains in order to link them to lucrative Google-style per-per-click advertising.

"This is some of the fastest cybersquatting I've ever seen," said Jonathan Robinson, chief operating officer of NetNames. "Securing these domain names after Beckham's announcement on Thursday was the online equivalent of the first day of the Harrods sale as opportunists fought for the domain name rights to every single permutation of the Beckham brand crossed with LA Galaxy."

NetNames reports that one cybersquatter in Milton Keynes registered multiple versions of the LA Galaxy team name within an hour of Beckham's announcement, including www.lagalaxy.org, www.lagalaxy.info and www.lagalaxy.co.uk. All his domain names point to websites that feature per-per-click adverts.

One internet user in Arizona registered www.davidbeckhamgalaxy.com to point it to their Beckham fan site, while a couple in Florida secured the www.beckhamgalaxy.com domain name.

More reviews via RSS Post item to Del.icio.us Post item to Digg.com