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In general, each domain name is a unique entity that cannot be duplicated. Therefore, when a company uses a specific domain name, there should be no mistakes. However, many illegal websites take advantage of "similar domain names" to confuse users. Inexperienced users find it difficult to distinguish between genuine and fake websites, which leads to deception and users accessing counterfeit websites.
So, what are some confusing domain names or letters?
The lowercase letter "l" and the number "1" can be difficult to distinguish in certain fonts. In the enlarged image below (300 font size), it may still be distinguishable, but in the standard font size we use on our computers (usually 16), with most details hidden, can you still differentiate them? At this point, the domain names you see are identical, but they have no relation whatsoever.
Of course, for aesthetic or other reasons, most browsers and computer systems default to the "Arial" font series, where it is indeed easy to differentiate the number "1" and the letter "l." But what about the uppercase letter "I" and the lowercase letter "l"?
Some may argue that such mistakes are easy to distinguish. Moreover, most of the time, when displaying domain names, the letter "i" is deliberately used in lowercase rather than uppercase, for example: iCloud, iPhone, iPad... Well, please take a look at the following domain name:
аpple.com. Is this the domain name of Apple Inc.?
Yes/no
The answer is: NO.
This is not Apple's official domain name! If you copy it → аpple.com and paste it into the browser, you will find that it is not Apple's website.
Why is this? Because "а" is not the letter "a" at all; it is a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet. Although domain name registration does not allow the use of special characters, it does not restrict the use of certain language characters from other countries, such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, and other non-Latin characters. Therefore, sometimes characters from other languages may have the same appearance as common English letters but completely different content.
So, when you encounter an unfamiliar domain name in an unfamiliar environment, it is advisable to carefully discern it before proceeding to the next step. It is best not to directly copy and paste, but to manually type it in. This way, you can avoid accessing domain names of fake websites that look similar but are completely unrelated or even contain viruses.
Do you have any further additions to make on this topic?
So, what are some confusing domain names or letters?
The lowercase letter "l" and the number "1" can be difficult to distinguish in certain fonts. In the enlarged image below (300 font size), it may still be distinguishable, but in the standard font size we use on our computers (usually 16), with most details hidden, can you still differentiate them? At this point, the domain names you see are identical, but they have no relation whatsoever.
Of course, for aesthetic or other reasons, most browsers and computer systems default to the "Arial" font series, where it is indeed easy to differentiate the number "1" and the letter "l." But what about the uppercase letter "I" and the lowercase letter "l"?
Some may argue that such mistakes are easy to distinguish. Moreover, most of the time, when displaying domain names, the letter "i" is deliberately used in lowercase rather than uppercase, for example: iCloud, iPhone, iPad... Well, please take a look at the following domain name:
аpple.com. Is this the domain name of Apple Inc.?
Yes/no
The answer is: NO.
This is not Apple's official domain name! If you copy it → аpple.com and paste it into the browser, you will find that it is not Apple's website.
Why is this? Because "а" is not the letter "a" at all; it is a letter in the Cyrillic alphabet. Although domain name registration does not allow the use of special characters, it does not restrict the use of certain language characters from other countries, such as Arabic, Cyrillic, Hebrew, and other non-Latin characters. Therefore, sometimes characters from other languages may have the same appearance as common English letters but completely different content.
So, when you encounter an unfamiliar domain name in an unfamiliar environment, it is advisable to carefully discern it before proceeding to the next step. It is best not to directly copy and paste, but to manually type it in. This way, you can avoid accessing domain names of fake websites that look similar but are completely unrelated or even contain viruses.
Do you have any further additions to make on this topic?
