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Free Domain Registration By "co.vu" Is Fraudulent

Blogger blog owners, like everybody else, like to save money.

Some blog owners prefer to save money when registering a custom domain, for their blogs. We've seen several free domain registration services, providing what is claimed to be a two level Top Level Domain "co.xx" (where "xx" == various country codes).

The latest in this ongoing story appears to be "co.vu".

This year, we're seeing problem reports from blog owners who have published their blogs to domains registered as "co.vu" - and later, their blogs go offline.

"co.vu" is not a TLD, but a domain.

Like its predecessor "co.cc" long ago, and others since, "co.vu" appears to be another case of devious spammer ingenuity. The "registrar" for "co.vu" is actually the owner of the domain "co.vu", which is registered by Amazon Technologies in Virginia USA.

Blog owners who register their blogs using "co.vu" are actually publishing as a subdomain / virtual host to "co.vu". Their publishing efforts help to provide traffic to "co.vu", and to the undesirable content hosted there.

The "registrar" is simply a domain holder, who gives out free subdomains.

The provider of "co.vu", Nura Ramuk of Bangalore, India, like previous scam artists, is cashing in on the naivete that many Internet users have, in thinking that some registrars, for countries that use a 2 level Top Level Domain, will register domains for free.
How many domains can i register it for free?
You can register upto 2 domains for free. If you want more domains you can upgrade to pro and register up to 200 domains
This sounds like such a great deal - except what you "register" is not a domain - it's a virtual host, in the "co.vu" domain. And all of the search reputation, from the blog owner hard work, goes to "co.vu".

"co.vu" is actually a domain, registered by Amazon Associates.


Ramuk is claiming that you get a domain - when you actually get a virtual host in his own domain, "co.vu".


"co.xx" is used, in a number of countries. Vanuatu uses ".vu", not "co.vu".

There are a number of known "co." 2 level Top Level Domains - such as "co.in" (India), "co.nz" (New Zealand), and "co.uk" (United Kingdom).

Each genuine 2 level TLDs can provide a domain - when registered by a legitimate registrar. None of these will provide a free service, for their product that requires their resources.

The country of Vanuatu owns ".vu", as a TLD. They do not own, or provide ".co.vu".

GoDaddy will (did) register "nitecruzr.co.uk", for $6.99. Not free.

"nitecruzr.co.uk" is (or was) an available domain.


GoDaddy will (would) not register "nitecruzr.co.vu" - because "nitecruzr.co.vu" is not a domain - and "co.vu" is not a TLD. But "co.vu" did register my personal "domain", for "free".

"nitecruzr.co.vu" is not a domain - and "co.vu" is not a TLD.


Publishing to "co.vu" will not get your blog a good reputation.

"codotvu.com" appears to be advertising their services most heavily in FaceBook and Tumblr. One Tumblr publisher has observed that publishing to "co.vu" is not a good idea
"But I can have a cool personalized name with .co .vu!" Yeah, you know why? Because most people don’t use it so names aren’t taken. Why?

Because it’s covered in adware and spyware.
Once again:
You don't get something for nothing.

Alternatively, as various sages have historically suggested,
There's a sucker born every minute

A "domain" registered as ".co.vu" may be worth exactly what you paid for it.

Comments

Unknown said…
Also, they give you only two options; Tumblr and Blogger, things like nameservers which are basic features, are "Premium" features in Co.vu
thefoodgrapher said…
great article
Found the post while browsing about co.vu domain which I'm curious about

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