Lions and tigers and domain name scams…
June 28, 2010
Your domain name — mycompany.com — is not only a critical part of your Web and email services, it is a part of your business identity. So any attempt to steal your domain name, or use the renewal process to con money from you, is a serious threat.
At SPINEN we have seen a variety of domain name trickery over the years, from misleading advertising that attempts to part you from your hard-earned dollars to outright scams.
How does domain name registration work? A registrar is an organization accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to manage the reservation of Internet domain names. Registrars allow you to register a domain name to verify ownership of it, somewhat similar to trademarking a business name. While the domain name registration system has reasonable safeguards, devious scammers and unscrupulous companies will try to use misleading tactics to get you to inadvertently transfer control of your domain name to them.
You may see such attempts via mail or email.
One common scam originates in China, and is sent via email. Here is a sample of that message:
Dear CEO,
We are the domain name registration organization in Asia, which mainly deal with international company’s in Asia. We have something important need to confirm with your company. On the Jan 5, 2010, we received an application formally. One company named “HengTong International Holdings Ltd” wanted to register following
Domain names:
MyCompany.cc
MyCompany.com.hk
MyCompany.com.tw
MyCompany.hk
MyCompany.mobi
MyCompany.net.cn
MyCompany.org.cn
MyCompany.tw
Internet brand keyword: MyCompany
through our body.
After our initial examination, we found that the keywords and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company’s name and trademark. These days we are dealing with it. If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other aims to buy these domain names. Now we have not finished the registration of HengTong company yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.
While it seems like this letter is from someone in China trying to do you a favor, what this scam is actually trying to do is get you to register several useless domain names. Notice that many of the names end in two letters: “cc”, “hk,” “tw”–these are country codes for the Cocos Islands, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. As such they are probably useless to you unless you run an international company that does business in these places, and even then the value is questionable. Furthermore, the idea of registering an “Internet brand keyword” is ludicrous.
Another common ploy comes from a company calling itself the “Domain Registry of America.” This company sends out solicitations for service that look like invoices (click on thumbnail at left to see a sample). The unwary domain name owner may pay this “invoice,” which will transfer your domain name to the Domain Registry of America. Their annual renewal fees are high (30% higher than SPINEN charges!), and getting your domain name transferred back to your registrar of choice can be difficult.
So how do these scammers/shysters/con men (insert your favorite epithet here) obtain your contact information? Like a registered trademark, domain registration is a matter of public record. While you can use “private” registration to hide your contact information, it adds cost to domain name registration.
Misleading communication or outright scam attempts connected to your domain name can be time-consuming and aggravating. For this reason, many of our clients let SPINEN manage their domain names. That way, we can ensure your domain name is automatically renewed when it needs to be, and can filter out all the spam, scams and junk that can come along with owning a domain name.
Any time you have a question about any communication about your domain name, give us a call. After all, we are here to make “tech” easy for your business.
