Also called domain theft · stolen domain
Domain hijacking, explained
Thieves favor short, liquid names and try to resell them quickly to make recovery harder. If it happens, act within hours: contact your registrar's security or abuse team, document ownership with invoices, account records and past registration data, and ask the registrar to pursue the gaining registrar. Registrars, not registrants, can file a dispute under ICANN's Transfer Dispute Resolution Policy, and must do so within 12 months of the improper transfer. Beyond that, recovery may require court action; consult a qualified attorney.
Prevention is cheap. Use two-factor authentication through an app rather than SMS, keep the registrar lock on, give the account an email address on a domain held somewhere else, and keep contact details current so transfer notices reach you. For valuable names, a registry lock adds manual verification at the registry before key changes take effect. Do not confuse hijacking with reverse domain name hijacking, which is a bad-faith legal claim brought against a legitimate owner.
Example. An attacker who phished an investor's registrar password is stopped at the two-factor prompt, and the registry lock on the investor's best names would have blocked a transfer anyway.
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Education, not financial, legal or tax advice. Domain investing is speculative and most domain names never sell. Read the disclaimer.