Registering a domain name might not be as safe as you though.

Network Solutions, a domain name firm was found to register domain names that are subject to searches on its website thus blocking them and than selling them at an inflated price. The company achieves this by saving searches for domain names on its websites and and registering those domains in its name if the user doesn’t register the domain name just after the search. These domains are available for purchase by customers, by they have an inflated price, and they point to an page featuring advertisements.

Being accused of the above practices, Network Solutions defends them, claiming that it’s preventing “front running”, the term applied to scammers who take advantage of the five-day trial period to use domain names without paying for them.

According to Domain Name Wire, Susan Wade, who heads PR for Network Solutions said that the practice is actually a protection measure to protect customers from frontrunners and that after 4 days, the domain is released and can be purchased at the regular price from any domain name registrar.

Even though Network Solution claims it releases the domain names after 4 days, its practice still remains doubtful as it has been shown that other interested persons can very easily access the domain names registered by Network Solution based on the customers’ searches. By simply monitoring the Network Solutions’ reserve domain DNS for new domains, anyone can see what domain names have been search for and than register them either at the inflated price or wait and register them for the regular price after the 4-days period.

If Network Solutions doesn’t stop this practice immediately, they are guaranteed of lawsuit in the near future. And ICANN will certainly get around to investigating it eventually.