🔤Homoglyphs

Imagine you see two names: vitalik.pls and vita‍lik.pls. They look almost the same, right? But they're not! This trick is called using homoglyphs - characters that look similar but are actually different.

When sending crypto or dealing with domain names, these look-alikes can be confusing. One might be real, and the other a fake.

Using a Unicode Analyzer: This is a tool that helps you see the hidden details in a name. It can show you if there's an invisible or different character.
Zero-Width Joiners: These are invisible characters sometimes used in emojis. For example, a heart emoji might be made of a heart symbol plus a fire symbol, glued together by an invisible joiner.
Variation Selectors: These are used to change how emojis look, like making a heart red instead of black and white.

In PNS, variation selectors are removed to avoid confusion. But when dealing with domains outside the official app, these tricky characters can sneak in.

Some characters look very similar, like the letter 'e' from different alphabets. These can be used to create names that look identical but are actually different.

Use Warning Signs: Many services will show warning symbols next to names with unusual characters.
Check Prices: If a domain name looks too good to be true (like a popular name at a low price), it might be a fake. Always double-check by pasting it into the official dApp or via the unicode analyzer.

In PNS, upper-case letters are turned into lower-case, and some numbers from different languages look the same but are different.

Last updated 2 years ago