Sometimes, when typing the address of a web page quickly, we can make a mistake. Cybercriminals are aware of this and use it to their advantage.
Typosquatting refers to the fact that someone ends up on the wrong (fraudulent) website because he or she mistyped a url. This happens because cybercriminals reserve domains similar to those of legitimate websites, contemplating these errors. Thus, users who type a url with some letters changed (for having typed fast), or confuse the “.es” for “.com” (or vice versa), etc., can end up falling into their traps.
Victims may end up on a website that simply displays advertisements. But there are also sites that impersonate the identity of other companies, or that contain malware or executable files that are downloaded when users access them.
To avoid this, some companies buy domains similar to their urls. In this way, they redirect users to the correct website in case they type in the wrong address.
Avoid being a victim of these techniques: check the url when you write it; make sure that the url starts with https, and -before doing any procedure- check the legal notice, privacy policies and terms and conditions.