1

Is Someone in China Trying to Steal Your .com Name?

by Emilee Elder.
(Pennsylvania, USA)

I started my jewelry business in 1992, trademarked my business name shortly thereafter, and registered my domain name in 1997.

I am careful to and take steps to protect my trademark and domain name. So when I received this email recently, naturally I went on high alert.

Here is the email message:

Notice of Intellectual Property-Trademark Name
Thursday, January 20, 2011 6:10 PM
From: “Angela”

Manager,

We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On January,19th,2011, We received LUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “MY DOMAIN NAME” as their Internet Trademark and “MY DOMAIN NAME.cn”,”MY DOMAIN NAME.com.cn” ,”MY DOMAIN NAME.asia”domain names etc., It is 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 I am 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!

Kind Regards

Angela Zhang

Anhui Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China

Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: www.yg-net.net

When I did a search on registering domain names in China, this article came up, so I thought I would notify you about a new scam:

.CN Chinese Domain Name Scams from China.

I can’t tell you if my particular e-mail is a scam or not, but it sure seems like one to me.

Apparently, some domain name registrars in China are preying on businesses in the US and Australia who would naturally want to protect their domain names.

Pretty low trick, I think.

Emilee Elder
Em’s Gems

Comments:

Thank you, Emilee!
by: Rena

Thanks so much for posting this.

I received a similar message several weeks ago, supposedly regarding my rena-jewelry.com website.

At first I was dismayed, but after thinking it over for a few days I decided it was likely a scam of some sort, and that the best thing to do was to just not reply. Then I got busy with the holidays, etc., and forgot all about it till I saw your post here.

So thank you for researching this scam, finding an article about it, and sharing your findings with us! I would hate to see any small businessperson scammed this way.

China stealing your .com
by: Bev Carlson

Thanks for sharing this. However, I did notice that the date was 10/31/2007. That, to me, shows that these scams go on forever on the internet.
Gheez!

Trademark
by: Dee

I too would like to know how to trademark my name. I thought it would be something really expensive that required an attorney?

comment
by: Donald

I’ve just received same email as you received before. I’m glad that I found this site and now I know that is a scam. Thank you!

Forewarned is Forearmed
by: SterlingCrystal

Thanks a lot for this. It is not something that I have heard about before; if I receive an email now, I can save a lot of time (and not worry!)

Its in New Zealand too
by: Bobbie Pene

I live in New Zealand and often receive these emails regarding my bobbiepene.co.nz jewellery website. They go straight into the trash. I do find it funny that someone would want to use my name for their website. According to Facebook I am the only Bobbie Pene in the world!

If you receive any emails that just don’t seem right delete them. Don’t click any links or reply to them. Key things to watch out for are spelling and, grammar errors, the use of phrases such as “hello friend”, how are you, etc. Legitimate companies will use formal terms and will be very careful about spelling and grammar, even if English is not their first language.

Scam
by: Anonymous

I hope you know that the email itself to you is a scam to get you to buy those alternate domain names in China or pay for some service from that company.

Please be careful when dealing with your domain name. As someone who designs websites professionally I’ve run into far too many companies and people who go the DIY route with their website (which is totally fine) and then they will fall for various domain name schemes from legitimate sounding companies who send them emails, faxes, or letters like this. Do you research carefully!

Domain Scam
by: Anonymous

I received the same email. However, instead of being panicked…I decided to ask questions in the email. For instance, what is the full name of the company and what services do they provide, that is trying to acquire a domain name that is similar to our organization. Angela…couldn’t answer the question. Then, the urgency in her email to respond immediately was the “red flag.” It is definitely a scam. I decided, well if there is a company that is going to register a domain name similar to our organization in the US, then I will dispute it when their site is up. No site…no worries. There is always someone scamming to take your money. It really is sad and ridiculous. However, I’m very glad that I read your post. This is definitely confirmation for me that this is a scam. Here’s an interesting note…don’t be surprised if the scammers aren’t really from China…it could be another area like Nigeria. Dateline had a special about certain areas that are very common for online scams similar to this one.

Yes, this email is a scam
by:

The email you received is definitely a scam which has been around for a while. If you respond, the scammer will try to get you to send money to “protect” your domain name. To add insult to injury, you won’t get any protection if you do send money, and the scammer probably will steal your credit card information as well. Don’t respond!

Another Scam Letter
by: Anonymous

Thank you for your posting. We are an international organization so this was a bit disturbing to receive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Angela [mailto:overseas@rg-net.org] Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 3:32 AM
Subject: Notice of Intellectual Property-Trademark Name

Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On February,14th,2011, We received LUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “MY DOMAIN NAME” as their Internet Trademark and “MY DOMAIN NAME.CN”,”MY DOMAIN NAME.com.cn” ,”MY DOMAIN NAME.asia”domain names etc.,It is 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 I am 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!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: rg-net.org
web: www.rg-net.org

Domain name scam.
by: James Findlay

Yes I have received several of these notices. I got one of my contacts in Beijing to try and verify their address details and phone numbers with no success. No answer on any of the phone numbers. Isn’t it strange that a Chinese registrar of Domain names doesn’t have a Chinese language website. It is all in English, none of the logos of accreditation link to the appropriate website and the Verisign logo doesn’t link to the certificate website. They also have no ICP registration showing so I think I can sum it up as …. SCAM SCAM…. SCAM.

Thank you, James
by: Rena

Thanks so much for sharing your research, James! That’s very helpful to know.

You’re right – the more we learn about it, the scammier it is.

Internet Fruade
by: Maarten Belgium

Internet fraudsters are everywhere.
I think that these swindlers are making a big buck.
How can one stop them?

Worldwide domain name scam
by: Paul (UK)

Hi

I very nearly got taken in by this scam. Without checking if it was a scam I was gripped by righteous fury that someone was trying to hijack my on-line business name.

Fortunately because of the vast majority of decent hard working people who have taken the time and effort to post warnings to others I was not. Like myself many may have worked very hard sometimes for years to create their own business and on-line identity. Thank You all, it is good to know that there is still a decent honest hard working majority!

After calming down and analysing what was being said (in terrible English) I realised how unlikely the situation was. Thank you all so much! Whatever will these thieving scum-bags think off next?

Regards and respect!

Paul

So glad you didn’t get scammed, Paul!
by: Rena

Having a close brush with a scam like this makes us hyper-vigilant for anything that might be a fraud. I know I think twice about everything now!

Glad to hear you didn’t get taken in!

scam
by: Anonymous

I am CHinese, and today i received the same email, i was worried when i see the email, and i telephoned them, but the telephone is always busy.
Then i search by Google to see what it is,find that it is just a scam. i go to sleep now. Thanks.

Me too
by: Anonymous

I received the same today and found I could not reply as the posted email came back. Glad I now have read this. As a business owner I now have one less thing to worry about. Great read and feedback!:)

Thank you!

by: Nikki

Thank you Emilee, i have had one of these emails and did not know how to find out if it was real, then i found this! Great to know it’s a scam and will now just delete, thanks for sharing Emilee and everyone else too! 🙂

They’ve gotten spell-check

by: Anonymous

Dear CEO or Director,

We are a senior domain registrar in Hong Kong.

1.On Sep.11, 2012, we received an application formally. One company named “Random company that doesn’t exist” wanted to register the Network Marketing Keyword “company name” with some related domain names with our organization.

2. During our preliminary investigation, we found that these Domain Names’ keyword is identical with your Trade Mark, this is why we inform you.

3. I wonder whether did you consigned Foren Holdings Ltd to register these Domain Names with us?

Currently, we have already postponed this company’s application. Pls let the relevant principal make a confirmation with me ASAP.

Thanks & Regards,

Alice Liu
Hong Kong

Tel: +852 -65 17 -01 12 || Fax: +852 -30 69 -69 40

Mail: aliu@hkbweb.hk

Internet: www.hkbweb.net