---
title: The purpose of DNS is to spread scams
link: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Sep/6/the-purpose-of-dns-is-to-spread-scams/
source: simonwillison-net
published: 2026-09-06T14:40:07Z
updated: 2026-09-06T14:40:07Z
first_seen: 2026-09-08T10:17:10.166315Z
labels:
- dns
- scams
- terence-eden
summary: 'The purpose of DNS is to spread scams Terence Eden shares some daunting statistics in support of his take that "the Domain Name System''s purpose seems to be a vector for criminals to run scams on people at a terrifyingly high rate". On this Interisle report (via Andrew Campling), Terence says: It says 85 million new registrations of gTLDs were made in 2025. Of those 8.5 million were added to blocklists by May 2025. It reckons that a 10% abuse rate is the likely floor for these numbers and it''s probably closer to 20%. One in five newly registered domains with a gTLD are scams. That''s a bloody crisis. I had no idea. Apparently ICANN have been discussing this problem for years. Tags: dns, scams, terence-eden'
content: extracted
html: 2026-09-06-the-purpose-of-dns-is-to-spread-scams.html
---

**[The purpose of DNS is to spread scams](https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/09/the-purpose-of-dns-is-to-spread-scams/)**. Terence Eden shares some daunting statistics in support of his take that "the Domain Name System's purpose seems to be a vector for criminals to run scams on people at a terrifyingly high rate".

On [this Interisle report](https://interisle.net/insights/cybercriminaldomaindemand) ([via Andrew Campling](https://labs.ripe.net/author/andrew_campling/dns-abuse-and-criminal-infrastructure-beyond-definitions-and-blocklists/)), Terence says:

> It says 85 million new registrations of gTLDs were made in 2025. Of those 8.5 million were added to blocklists by May 2025. It reckons that a 10% abuse rate is the likely floor for these numbers and it's probably closer to 20%. One in five newly registered domains with a gTLD are scams. That's a bloody crisis.

I had no idea. Apparently ICANN have been discussing this problem for years.