KAMLOOPS, British Columbia, Jan. 15 (UPI) — The web domain for Barriere Chamber of Commerce in British Columbia, Canada was taken over by a pornographic website.
A post on the chamber’s Facebook page warned members and other visitors that the original domain name had been compromised and directed users to their new domain at http://www.barrierechamberofcommerce.com.
“The original domain name of barrier chamber has been grabbed by a unscrupulous company that has it forwarding to a very vile and disgusting site,” the post stated. “They are trying to extort $10,000 from us to get it back.”
The chamber urged users not to visit the old domain and also warned that the top search result on Google would lead to the stolen domain.
Chamber administrator told CBC News that the chamber lost it’s domain after forgetting to set up their GoDaddy account for automatic renewal, allowing adult site PornoLaba to purchase the domain in an attempt to extort the chamber.
“I’ve contacted the person who bought the site and registered it. He came back with $9,700 to buy the site back. It’s a $20 domain!” Downing said. “I told him we’re a chamber of commerce in a little tiny town of 1,000 people. We don’t have that kind of money.”
The chamber still holds other similar domains that will redirect to the correct site, and encouraged members and other users to change any links on their websites leading to the old domain.