SCAM Alert: Chinese Domain Registration

[aus11]

Got this email today and after a bit of Googling, turns out it is just a scam. Thought I might post it here in case anyone else gets one and wonders what it's about.

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Email Title: Urgent notice of Intellectual Property protection


Dear Manager,

(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)

This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On April 27th 2012, We received Tianhua Ltd's application that they are registering the name " (insertkeywordhere) " as their Internet Keyword and " (insertkeywordhere) .cn "、" (insertkeywordhere) .com.cn " 、" (insertkeywordhere) .asia "domain names etc.., they are China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so we are sending you this email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the owner of the trademark, In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!

Best Regards,

John

(And a lengthy email signature)

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Anyone else got one of these before?

 

[soj]

Yeah - old stuff. But thanks for highlighting Tom.

Just ignore.

 

[Cooper Mills DomainLawyer]

yes that one has been going around for a while - the reason is, that the scam is obviously working. I have had a few people call me in a panic about this, so I have had to warn them and put them onto a reputable registrar, if they really feel the need to register a .asia or .kr or something. The bad guys usually say they can register a bunch of worthless domains matching 'your brand' in questionable ccTLDs for only $10,000, the real reg fee is usually $500 in total

 

[aus11]

yes that one has been going around for a while - the reason is, that the scam is obviously working. I have had a few people call me in a panic about this, so I have had to warn them and put them onto a reputable registrar, if they really feel the need to register a .asia or .kr or something. The bad guys usually say they can register a bunch of worthless domains matching 'your brand' in questionable ccTLDs for only $10,000, the real reg fee is usually $500 in total

I actually almost sent you a message, but a quick Google search was all I needed. And in all honestly I didn't care if they got the .asia etc...

 

[marketingweb]

I actually almost sent you a message, but a quick Google search was all I needed. And in all honestly I didn't care if they got the .asia etc...

That's the thing through - there is no "They". The company that they are claiming will register the domains if you don't get in first doesn't actually exist.

If "They" did exist, i'm sure the registrar would just let them register the domains not bother contacting you first!

 

[findtim]

yeh. old news and why all my clients domain registration email addresses are my email address, this way the crap comes to me and i don't get phone calls saying " tim, i got this email and..........."

tim