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Chinese buying more than just 'bricks and mortar'

Robert Crain

Regular Member
We work within certain guidlines here in Australia, some would say are too restrictive.

I've been noticing a lot lately, when conducting a whois check on different domains, many names are registered under what I'd call bulls*** credentials. Surely it should be impossible to register a name under a cancelled / removed bn / abn / acn, etc.

I'm finding more and more of these, almost daily. Should they be reported to the auda? I doubt it's a matter where they simply forgot to renew a company name. Besides, the names I check don't even resolve.

Funny thing is, people say the .com.au space isn't worth anything, yet people all over the world will do anything to get their hands on 'our' names.

An example -
Registrant FAR EAST CHANNEL
Registrant ID OTHER BN04080919
Eligibility Type Company
Registrant Contact ID DNRAD45E147N
Registrant Contact Name DOCK JOON KO
Registrant Contact Email ausidjko@hanmail.net
Tech Contact ID DNRAD45E147N
Tech Contact Name DOCK JOON KO
Tech Contact Email ausidjko@hanmail.net

ABN Check -
Entity name: KO, DOCK JOON
ABN status: Cancelled from 03 May 2008
Entity type: Individual/Sole Trader
Goods & Services Tax (GST): Not currently registered for GST
Main business location:
VIC 3132

ASIC Check for company eligibility -
Name: FAR EAST CHANNEL
Registration number: BN04080919
State of registration: South Australia
Status: Removed
Type: Business Names
Principal place of business:
Regulator:
Australian Securities & Investments Commission

Thoughts?
 

robert

Top Contributor
Making a complaint to auDA (or directly to the registrar informing them that one of their customers is illegally licensing a domain name because their ABN or ACN has been cancelled or deregistered) comes down to your level of ethics and whether you are complaining on behalf of yourself, or on behalf of a client.

My own thoughts on this go as follows (I quote myself below from my public post on Domainer.com.au 6 days ago):

How I run DBR in terms of when clients come to me and ask if they should make a complaint is this: complaints should be a last-resort. Only to be made if it is impossible to contact the current domain name owner (by email and phone call, and NEVER because the current owner won’t sell, out of spite). And in the interest of transparency, all complaints should be made public. Perhaps the name of the person (or the company) who is complaining should be placed against the name appearing in the “official domain name drop list” in a new column of the “deleted domain names” section of the AusRegistry list?
I would clear up what I said above by adding this: auDA should make all complaints available to the public. So the domainer community can judge whether people are complaining for their own self-interest in owning the name, or if people are complaining because someone owns a name and they are uncontactable and their business is deregistered and they want to have a crack fair and square at securing the name when it next appears on the open drop markets.

Some domainers are also making complaints against blatant and serial scammers who are pretending to be connected to companies that they are clearly not connected with. I agree with these sorts of complaints as these scammers need to be pushed out of the Australian domain name space and taught a lesson, including not giving them a refund for their dodgy, against-policy registrations.

In the case you've talked about above Robert, if you have done your homework and can tell that this person has registered this name, but has nothing to do with the company or ABN, you need to contact the company themselves, and have them make the complaint to the registrar of the name. If you tell auDA or the drop-platforms or the registrar about this, that's what they'll tell you.

I am currently contacting a large health organisation about this very subject. A scammer has registered a name, using their ABN and company name, but they have NOTHING to do with the organisation. I have looked up other names they own, and they clearly don't live in Australia.

I wonder what other domainers think about auDA's complaints policy and domainers or end-users making complaints if the domain owner is impossible to contact and their business has shut down?
 

Robert Crain

Regular Member
My only concern is the scammer using expired abn's etc, for the purpose of registering and maintaining ownership.

Not exactly sure what you meant by "comes down to your level of ethics" ? Isn't it unethical to own something when you aren't legally entitled to?
 

neddy

Top Contributor
Some domainers are also making complaints against blatant and serial scammers who are pretending to be connected to companies that they are clearly not connected with. I agree with these sorts of complaints as these scammers need to be pushed out of the Australian domain name space and taught a lesson, including not giving them a refund for their dodgy, against-policy registrations.
I stick my hand up and confess that I am a complainant when it comes to scammers. But that's the only instance.

As many people have said before, complaints should be made public. I wrote about this on Domainer today.

Let me leave you with a thought - is it because the .au market is so heavily regulated that "others" look for ways around the system? Why not open the market up just like our cousins across the ditch? Or the UK? No ABN's / ACN's / ARBN's / TM applications etc ... No "close and substantial" connection required. The Government crows that we have "Free Trade Agreements" with lots of nations - but sadly, this doesn't apply to domain names. Imho.
 

robert

Top Contributor
My only concern is the scammer using expired abn's etc, for the purpose of registering and maintaining ownership.

Not exactly sure what you meant by "comes down to your level of ethics" ? Isn't it unethical to own something when you aren't legally entitled to?
I meant it "comes down to your level of ethics" as the person making the complaint. Some domainers don't believe in making complaints, at all, no matter what. They think it's unethical. I believe there are one or two domainers who makes complaints at will, and they probably believe it's ethical because the owner should be obeying policy properly... (I would have no idea who they are though?!)

Of course it's unethical for a spammer to license a name. That's why we should all go after them if they are blatant.
 

Robert Crain

Regular Member
Now I get you. I totally agree with what you're saying. I'm sure 99% of registrations are legit, it's just the spammers that annoy me.

Cheers
 

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