Domain Name Scam Warning

If you are in business and especially if you have an international profile there is a high chance of you being approached by a Chinese Domain Name register….or some purporting to be an Registrar. Don’t be fooled by fancy web sites either … just think back to the last Olympics and the international ticket scam web site where they made millions from unauthorised ticket sales.

So how does the work domain name scam work? Well you will receive an email from a Registrar saying that they have received an application from a company and that they wish to take your base domain name and register it. The Registrar is writing to you under the premises that they are concerned someone is infringing your trademark etc.

Do not be forced or feel compelled to do anything other consider whether you should register your name with .hk, aisa, cn etc. If you do decide that you should secure your domain url in those jurisdictions then I would recommend that you use to normal registration partner.

If you are an exporter, especially in those regions then you should secure the domain to protect you from any ambush marketing. You can use such sites as http://www.godaddy.com, http://www.eyename.com.

I recommend that you do not register from the company whom you receive the email from as it is highly likely to be phishing or a scam.

Here is an actual email recently received on behalf of one of my companies. I have received a few of these over the last few years.
Also be wary of companies chasing you as your domains come near their expiry date, They will scam you for exorbitant renewal fees. One such company is (exact name escapes me. Domain Names of America or similar out of Australia. Renew with your original registrar.

—————————- Original Message —————————-
Subject: [spam?] URGENT:Verification for Domain Registration
From: Byron.wang@nan-zhan.com.cn
Date: Tue, September 22, 2009 6:33 pm
To:
————————————————————————–

Dear CEO,

We are the department of registration service in China. we have something need to confirm with you. We formally received an application on September 18, 2009, One company which self-styled “Acci Corporation” are applying to register “iceav” as internet brand and Domain names as below:

iceav.asia
iceav.cc
iceav.cn
iceav.com.cn
iceav.com.tw
iceav.hk
iceav.net.cn
iceav.org.cn
iceav.tw

After our initial examination, we found that the internet brand applied for registration are as same as your company’s name and trademark.These days we are dealing with it, hope
to get the affirmation from your company. If your company and this”Acci Corporation”as the same company,there is no need reply to us,We will accept their application and will
register those for them immediately.

If your company has no relationships with that company nor do not authorized,please reply to us within 7 workdays,if we can’t get any information from yours over 7 workdays,we will unconditionally approve the application submitted by “Acci Corporation”.

Thanks for your cooperation.
Best Regards,
Byron Wang
Tel£º(86)-21-64609758
Fax£º(86)-21-64609768
Website: http://nanzhan.org.cn

(I RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY)