“Legitimate firms don’t hide their contact details”

Is using whois privacy or proxy services a red flag?

I was reading a story this morning regarding problems at Bitcoin payment processor EgoPay. The author noted that the EgoPay.com website is devoid of contact information and that the domain name is protected by whois privacy.

The author concludes that “Legitimate firms don’t hide their contact details.”

I agree to an extent. A combination of not disclosing contact details on a site and using whois privacy is a red flag. But there are legitimate reasons a firm might want to use whois privacy to mask its domain name record. For example, a firm might not want people to know the email address it uses to control its domain names.

That stated, I think it’s fair to give extra scrutiny to a firm, particularly one that handles financial transactions, if it uses whois privacy. At a minimum, you’ll want to make sure the firm has accurate contact information on its website. I’d look for all of the information you can usually get from whois: a mailing address, phone number and email.

Otherwise, it is indeed a red flag.