WHOIS Domain Lookup
Registration date, registrar, expiry, nameservers, and owner country
Look up any domain's registration details from the official WHOIS database. Newly registered domains are a major red flag for scam websites — most are less than 30 days old when their victims first encounter them.
What Is a WHOIS Lookup?
WHOIS is a public database maintained by domain registrars and regional internet registries (RIRs) that stores registration information for every domain on the internet. When someone registers a domain, their details — including the registration date, registrar, expiry date, and sometimes the registrant's name and contact information — are recorded in WHOIS.
How WHOIS Helps Detect Scams
Registration Age: Scam websites are almost always newly registered. A domain less than 90 days old selling expensive goods or claiming to be an established brand is a serious red flag.
Privacy Shields: Legitimate businesses usually show their organisation name in WHOIS. Scam operators hide behind WHOIS privacy services (showing "Domains By Proxy" or similar) to conceal their identity.
Registrant Country: If a website claims to be a UK retailer but the domain is registered to an address in a high-risk jurisdiction, that's suspicious.
Expiry Date: Scam sites are often registered for just 1 year — the minimum. Established businesses typically renew for multiple years.
Name Servers: Unknown or shared hosting name servers on sites claiming to be major institutions can indicate fraud.