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Domain name registration scam:
You have received an email similar to the wording below.
Example 1:
We are a domain name register organization in China. We received an application from 'some company'. During the course of checking, we found they have motivation to register your domain names compete first. We are required by Chinese government to inform your company this matter to keep your benefit from infringement. So we sent email to inform your company to protect your benefit. If you don't think their application will affect your benefit, we will pass their application. Only register these domain names in your own name could protect your benefit.
According to the rule, this company has right to register these domain names and Internet Brand keyword. As a domain name registrar, we have no right to dispute their application. So required by China government to inform your company to protect your interest. As the company whose trademarks relate to the applied domains, you will get the priority to register these domain names and Internet Brand keyword. If you think these domain names and Internet Brand keyword are useful for you, we can send an application form to you and help you register these within dispute period. If you don't think their application will affect your benefit, we will pass their application. There is a time limit. Pls let us know your decision soon. Waiting for your reply.
Best Regards
China Net Technology Limited
Example 2:
We are a domain name registration organization in Hong Kong, mainly dealing with the domain names' conflicts of company in Asia regions. We received a formal application from a company that is applying to register some domain names with the keyword "your domain or trademark name here" and register it as their internet keyword on a recent date. After investigation, we found that it is the same as your company name and trademark, so we inform you of this issue. In order to find out if it could affect you or not, we still have not confirm the third company yet. And if you think the domains are important and would like to protect them by registering ahead, please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.
Best Regards.
Hong Kong Network Service Company Limited
These are clever scam emails sent by fradulent companies attempting to use fear tactics to scare you into thinking you are losing your domain and/or trademark. Performing a simple Google Search you can see the number of different responses to this scam.
The ultimate goal of these emails are to get you to respond to their email. Upon responding they will try to get you to register domain names and other services that you clearly do not need. In this tactic, a foreign firm is registering any domains that are available; ie: yourdomain.net, .info, .org, etc... But the reality of this scam is that they 'register' these domains and then come back at you asking extremely high fees for their 'services' to redirect these domain names to your site (yourdomain.com).
They are trying to get you to pay for domain names and services no one would ever use or associate with your domain or trademark. A similar case would be how http://www.joesgarage.org/ and http://www.joesgarage.info/ are two completely different websites/companies.
Do not reply to their email asking to remove you from their list or that you are not interested. By replying you are only diving into the scam deeper. The best approach is just to delete the email and you can inform the US DOJ by filing out the ICCC's online complaint form.
From the Department of Justice's website:
"If you want to report other possible online crime, including online fraud (for example, "get-rich-quick" schemes or online auction fraud) whether or not you have lost money, please use the ICCC's online complaint form."
http://www.ic3.gov/complaint/default.aspx
Scam / Spam emails from foreign registrars: YOUR DOMAIN NAME’S CURRENT SITUATION
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Last Updated: 29th of October, 2009