When someone impersonates you online: your digital identity needs protecting too
A few days ago, Jordi Roca, pastry chef and co-owner of El Celler de Can Roca —the Roca brothers’ restaurant in Girona— published a message on Instagram that left no room for doubt. He was furious. Someone had created a fake website imitating his restaurant and was charging money to manage reservations that would, of course, never materialise. A full-blown scam, concealed behind a domain convincing enough to deceive customers.
This is not an isolated case. But it seemed like a good moment to talk about something that often takes a back seat: the digital identity of businesses, and by extension, who we are on the Internet.
Nobody can have it all. But you can have what matters
When you register a domain, the question you immediately ask yourself is: how many extensions do I need to buy? The honest answer is that no matter how much you think a .com, a .es or a .info will do, if someone wants to impersonate you, they will find a way using any domain you have not yet taken. The number of possible domains in the world is so vast that nobody —not even the most powerful brand on the planet— can buy them all. Although mechanisms exist to protect your brand online, these do not cover 100% of existing extensions (TLDs) either.
But there is a difference between total coverage —impossible— and meaningful coverage. And this is where the logic of the .cat domain comes in.
If you are a business that operates in Catalan, that has roots here, that addresses a specific community and that represents a piece of our culture, then the .cat domain bearing your name should belong to you. Not as an infallible shield against all fraud, but as a mark of ownership over your digital identity in the linguistic and cultural environment that defines you.
The good news is that having it does not mean having to manage a new website. A .cat domain can be configured to automatically redirect to any other page: your .com version, your .es, or whichever you normally use. We call this a “redirect”, and it is as simple as changing the number plate on a car without moving it. What you achieve is that nobody can use that .cat domain to impersonate you, without you having to change anything about your usual workflow. For more specific cases, the .cat domain also provides other forms of protection, such as defensive domains, available exclusively for registered trademarks.
Gastronomy is culture. And culture needs a space of its own
The Roca case is no coincidence. El Celler de Can Roca is, on a global scale, one of the most recognised restaurants in the recent history of gastronomy. And, precisely for that reason, it is an attractive target for those who want to exploit someone else’s reputation. But think for a moment about any other local restaurant, a family winery, an artisan bakery, the local market that recently launched a website. All of them are part of a cultural fabric that defines us collectively.
Catalan gastronomy —with its local produce, its denominations of origin, its traditional and innovative cuisine— is heritage. Not in the static sense of the word, but in the living sense: it is what we are, what we eat, what we share with those who come from elsewhere. And if everything that constitutes identity needs a recognisable digital space, gastronomy should be no exception.
A food business that uses a .cat domain is not just a business with a different extension. It is a business that says: I am from here, I work in Catalan, I feel part of it. One that reinforces its presence in the digital ecosystem of our community. One that contributes, through the simple act of registering a domain, to making Catalan visible on the Internet in the most basic way: by having a place of its own.
Digital identity is not a technical luxury
We often treat domains as a minor detail, a necessary formality to have a website. But a domain is much more than an address. It is your name on the Internet. It is what appears when someone searches for you, shares you, trusts you. And, like all names, it is worth protecting.
The case involving Jordi Roca on social media is a wake-up call that goes beyond cybersecurity. It reminds us that digital identity is something that needs to be thought about, looked after and, where possible, proactively protected. Not out of fear, but out of consistency. Because on the Internet, as in life, being yourself —and not letting anyone take advantage of that— is a minimum condition for operating with confidence.
And if you think none of this applies to you, consider it from a more pragmatic angle: having a .cat domain is, in most cases, cheaper than dealing with the consequences of not having one —just ask the Roca brothers. Having a .cat domain means having someone who, if problems arise, will help you, understands your context and does so in your language. Because behind the .cat there are real, approachable people who know what it means to run a business here. You do not need to feel particularly attached to it to recognise that it is a sensible decision.
If you have a business that is part of our culture and addresses our community, and you still do not have a .cat, you are risking someone else taking your space on the Internet. Perhaps it is time to claim it, don’t you think?
Want to find out if the .cat domain for your business or project is available? Check it at domini.cat
