First published: 13th October 2010
The Domain Name Registration scam is not new, variants have been around for at least five years, but it is still happening. Presumably, some victims are falling for it, or the scammers wouldn't bother.
The scam starts with an email from a "domain name registration center" to a domain owner, the victim-to-be, warning them that another company is applying to register variants of their domain name under another top level domain. However, the scammers claim, they can keep the domain names safe, if the victim contacts them urgently. This is a recent typical example, received by Yui Kee:
From: "Angela" <info@ygnetworks.org>
Subject: Notice of Intellectual Property-Trademark Name
Date: Thu, 9 Sep 2010 16:31:54 +0800
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On September,8th,2010, We received HUATAI Company's application that they are registering the name "yuikee" as their Internet Trademark and "yuikee.cn","yuikee.com.cn" ,"yuikee.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
Angela Zhang
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Office: +86 216296 2950
Fax: +86 216296 1557
web: http://yg-networks.com
web: http://www.yg-networks.com
Other variants say that the Chinese character version of the domain name or the "Internet Keyword" is being registered, or that the registration is in the .hk top level domain. If you are a company worried about your brand-name you might panic and ask to register all of these, at considerable cost. What you would get for your money is uncertain, but it certainly won't include an "Internet Trademark", there is no such thing, the status of an "Internet Keyword" is more confused, but there is no recognised registration, so you won't get that, either. You might get a real registration of your name in some top level domains, at a greatly inflated price, or maybe nothing.
There are plenty of reports of this scam, mostly on various blogs and forums, but it is difficult to find any warnings on official sites - Police, Government, Registries or CERTs. In fact, some official sites act as a primer for the scam, for example this Hong Kong Government webpage about protecting against phishing says, "Consider to register domain names that are similar to the one that is currently used by the organisation e.g. in addition to the original domain name "www.abcbank.com.hk", domain names "www.abcbank.com", "www.abc.com", "www.abcbank.hk" can also be registered.". Anyone who has read that and later receives a scam email will think, "I was warned about this, and now it's happening", making it more likely they will succumb to the trick.
The top level domain usually targeted is .cn, along with .asia, .hk and .tw, and the sender usually claims to be the registration centre in China, to the extent that this is usually referred to as the "China Domain Name Scam". Maybe the scammers are preying on companies' eagerness to be prepared to enter important emerging markets?
Is this scam raking in big money for the scammers? We do not know, there seem to be no studies on it, and victims may not even realise they've been tricked. It is not even clear where reports should be made, your local police, the police in the scammers supposed location, a legitimate registry, a CERT, or a regulatory body?
