Beware of Chinese Domain Names Fraud
Many voices in the blogosphere have reported a new scheme of scam involving generally a Chinese domain registration firm asking for people to register some domain names through them because “a third party” was trying to register them. An example would be a dot.com domain owner who would receive an unsolicited email from those bogus companies because of someone else trying to register some .cn versions of the same website, so they wanted the company owner to register these domains first with them to “protect their trademarks”.
There is no such a thing as a registrar contacting a company because a third party was trying to register a similar domain name. Chinese domain name can be registered both in China and overseas and immediately, provided that they are available at the very moment the search is conducted. On the other hand a domain name doesn’t automatically make a trademark owner unless related to a brand which has been properly registered with the country’s relevant organizations, and in which case the trademark would apply solely to that specific country.
Make sure not to fall for this scam. Nevertheless, if you have China-related operations or expect to be involved with China in the near future, it would make sense to register and park the Chinese extensions (.cn and .com.cn would do) of your domain if available, to avoid it being snapped by domainers, competitors or even scammers as the ones we just mentioned.
Below an email correspondence received by a client (whose website is www.shanghai-tv.com.cn) that would give you a clearer pictures of what is going on.
From: Liza <Liza@netinchina.org.cn>
Subject: Shanghai-tv-Intellectual property rights (TO CEO)
Dear CEO,
We are the domain name registration organization in China, which mainly deal with international company’s in china. We have something important need to confirm with your company.
On the Dec 10, 2007, we received an application formally. One company named ” Viva International Holdings Ltd” wanted to register following
Domain names:
shanghai-tv.cc
shanghai-tv.cn
shanghai-tv.com.hk
shanghai-tv.com.tw
shanghai-tv.hk
shanghai-tv.info
shanghai-tv.net
shanghai-tv.net.cn
shanghai-tv.org.cn
shanghai-tv.tm
shanghai-tv.tv
shanghai-tv.tw
Internet brand keyword:
Shanghai-tv
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. At presentwe 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 Viva company yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.
Best Regards,
Liza Ding
_________________________
China Net Technology Limited
Tel:+(852)-3059-3057
Fax:+(852)-3059-3080
Email: Liza@netinchina.org.cn
Web: Link Removed
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:52 am
From: jerry.lee
To: REMOVED
Cc: REMOVED
Sent: Tue Jun 02 07:49:47 2009
Subject: REMOVED-Network Trademark Urgent Message(TO President)
Dear Principal,
We are a domain name disputed registration service company in HongKong, which mainly deal with international company’s in Asia,We have something important need to confirm with your company.
On the 1th Jun,2009, we received an application formally. One company named “TanXin Holding Limited” applied for the network trademark”REMOVED”and some domain names relevant to this trademark from our organization..
According to our procedures and in order to protect your intellectual property rights, we need to send this email to the original company for confirming the actual relationship with this company. because that may relate to your intellectual property on internet. Now we have not finished the registration of TanXin Holding Limited yet, in order to deal with this issue better and not to confuse registering these domain names, please let someone who is responsible for trademark or domain name contact me as soon as possible.
In addition, we hereby affirm that our time is limited for dissent application . If your company files no dissent within the time limit,we will unconditionally approve the application submitted by “TanXin Holding Limited”.
(PS:If you are not in charge of this matter,please transfer this email to appropriate dept.)
Best Regards,
jerry.Lee
Auditing Chairman
Hong Kong Head Office:
TEL: +852-956 60 496
FAX: +852-301 97 872
Email: jerry.lee@dnrcenter.hk
Web: http://www.asiadm.hk.cn
June 10th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
I have also received what looks to be an example of the same type of scam, so it is apparently still active – see below:
—————————————————-
Dear Evan:
Thanks for your reply .We believe that you are the owner of
“www.fabathome .org”, Now,what we say is the CN/ASIA domain name,like
“www.fabathome .cn,www.fabathome .asia”. but I believe that you must know
the domain name is open to register in China,any person and company can
register the names which have not been registered yet.Now,the
Investment company wants to use the “fabathome ” to register the CN/ASIA
domain name and Internet trademark Keyword, After check ,we find your
company is using the brand, we have not enough reason to refuse their
company’s application.so in order to avoid the conflict,we must confirm
with the original user of the brand.Whether you have market in China or
Asia?If we help the company register,whether will produce influnce on your
company’s market? Please contact me so that we can proceed the following
process.Wait for your reply!Thanks!
Best Regards
John
Oversea marketing manager
Tel:+86(0)21 6296 2950
Fax:+86(0)21 6296 1557
Email:john@ygregistry.cn
Website:www.ygregistry.cn
July 9th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Just got the domain email, what a scam. Thanks for your site saving me money.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:42 am
This company, too, has been emailing us- for years- they anted thousands to register the domain names. The email is pasted below. Total scammers!
On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 2:11 AM, SUNNY wrote:
Dear President&CEO,
We are a professional internet consultant organization in Asia, we have a pretty important issue needing to confirm with your company.On June.22, 2009, we received an application formally, one company named “Lucky Holdings Ltd” applied for the brand keyword “internationalwig” and following domain names:
internationalwig.asia
internationalwig.biz
internationalwig.cc
internationalwig.cn
internationalwig.com.cn
internationalwig.hk
internationalwig.info
internationalwig.mobi
internationalwig.net.cn
internationalwig.org.cn
internationalwig.tw
with our organization.
During our preliminary investigation, we found that these domain names’ keyword is identical with your trademark. I wonder whether you consigned Lucky Holdings to register these domain names with us? Or is Lucky Holdings your business partner or distributor in Asia?
Currently, we have already postponed this application of this company temporarily. Therefore please let the relevant person make a confirmation with me by telephone or email ASAP.
Best Regards,
Sunny Yin
Web: http://www.wtl.hk.cn
Tel: +(852)_9566_0103
+(852)_9566_0205
Fax: +(852)_3019_7872
Mail: sunny@westidc.org
sunny@scdomain.org
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:12 am
For the purpose continuing to foil these people, here’s the letter I just got:
Dear President/CEO,
Hello!Sorry to trouble you!
We are a domain name registration service company in HongKong, which mainly deal with international company’s domain name registration and disputing in Asia.
On the Jul 13, 2009, we received an application formally from Fjuupk Holdings Limited,who applied for the Internet trademark: and some domain names relevant to this trademark from our organization.
According to our procedures and in order to protect your intellectual property rights, we need to send this email to the original company for confirming the actual relationship with this company.If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other motivation to register these domain names and probably want to do some cybersquatting. Now we have postponed this issue and have not proceeded their registration,In order not to confuse registering these domain names,Please contact us Asap.
PS:If you are not in charge of this matter,please transfer this email to appropriate dept.
Best Regards
Cary.Feng
Auditing Director
Hong Kong Head Office:
Tel:+852-9566 0496
Fax: +852-3019 7872
Email:Cary@sknetdata.com
Sknetdata@gmail.com
Web: http://www.asiadm.hk.cn
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Another Asiadnr scam – Just got the same message from a Bruce.Yu [mailto:Bruce.Yu@asiadnr.org] – July 23, 2009 – like it didn’t smell from the moment it hit my in box…
Scammer’s Contact:
Bruce Yu
Sponsoring Registrar:sk holdings company ltd
Web:www.asia-gov.com /www.sk-dns.org
Tel:00852-95660103 / 00852-95660489
Fax:00852-30197872
Address: 3A, Units 20/F, Far East Consortium Bldg., 121 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong
July 27th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
I got this scam mails from China just this morning. It came from Allen.Xie [Allen.Xie@netservice.hk]. He is a sponsoring registrar of SKDNR Auditing Department, Hong Kong Office
Email: Allen.Xie@cnsknet.cn
Website: http://www.asiadm.hk.cn/
He is very insistent. And they are just a complete waste of time. I hope there’s some legal ways to make them stop.
So beware!
July 27th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
They replied another mail. Here it goes…
I think you were misunderstanding. We are a professional Internet consultant organization in Asia, who mainly deal with the global companies’ domain name registration and internet intellectual property right protection. Regarding Gandi.net told you that this is a spam,scam one from china. I think it is pure and simple that run off at the mouth without any evidence. I also checked the detail information that you provided me, which is not able to explain anything, that is to say this is fraud. I suspect this is from our competitor who want to set up our organization, and frame a case against our organization, in order to confuse our client. Hope you do not believe that and I will forward this to our relevant Dept, we will deal with it serviously.
The domain names registration is open in the world, this is international domain name registration principle. For example, Google company’s domain names had been registered by other company on 2004. Of course, Google company want get their domain names back through arbitration, litigation, and other legal means, but wasting time and efforts, and Google company failed, at last Google company had paid 1 million dollars to get the two domain names back. I wish it can draw much attention to your relevant Dept of your company.
Following is the Google cases, for you refer.
http://www.edu.cn/20050927/3153698.shtml
Of course. Also hope following page will help you understand this is very well.
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2008/article_0015.html
Meanwhile, it is in the special time of financial crisis. Many companies are registering and protecting their own internet intellectual property right in various methods. As the company whose trademarks relate to the applied domains, so I think these domain names are very important for you. If you think these domain names and internet wireless keyword are useful for your company, and their registration will confuse your clients and harm your honor and profits. We will provide you the dispute application form to you, help you dispute, register these domain names instead of Young Holdings Ltd within dispute period. This is the only way to prevent domain name grabber. Pls let us know your decision soon, so that we can handle the next step. Thanks for your cooperation! Waiting for you reply.
————- end
Any comments on this?
Thanks
July 29th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
There is no such a thing as internet trademark. Why pay 10 or 20 times for a domain name because a company in Asia sent you an email? If you have concerns that your domain names may be registered by third parties and held hostage, just go to Godaddy.com and register them for 10$ each.
August 21st, 2009 at 7:48 pm
They are still active…
Just got one today:
Dear CEO/Manager,
We are a domain name registration center in HongKong, mainly dealing with domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection. On Aug 20, 2009 we received a formal application from a company who is applying to register several domains, using “asuta” as the internet keyword. After investigation, we find that you are the original user of the keyword. Such similar domain cases may involve your company name or trade mark, and may cause website confusion and conflicts. For a responsible attitude, we inform you here and your opinion, in order to deal with this issue better, please contact us by email or telephone ASAP.
Looking forward to your reply.
Kind Regards,
Faithe
Phone: +852-31757931 (8001)
Fax: +852-31757932
Email: Faithe.Lee@hk-nsc.hk
Website: www .hknsc .hk
Confidentiality Statement:
The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or other action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this message in error please be advised of your obligation to immediately notify sender of the error in transmission, and to destroy all associated documentation.
After I told the to go f**k themselves they got angry and responded:
???????????OK????????????????????????????????????????B OK?
Google translation:
I speak of your uncle, you are a chop suey, OK? Hell you are a slut, Death, dogs on the East and West, inserted inside the root of your nose red onion want the elephant ah? You are a silly B OK?
August 27th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Asia Pacfic ccTLD Domain Names Registry
Office? YG China Co,Ltd.
Tel? 0086-021-6296 2950
Fax? 0086-021-6296 1557
Address? No.688 CaoYangRoad,XuHui District,Shanghai China.
Inquiries? info@Ygchina.org.cn
Sales & Service ? service@Ygchina.org.cn
Suggestions/Comments? comments@Ygchina.org.cn
Webmaster? webmaster@Ygchina.org.cn
Monday-Friday?: 8:30 A.M. – 5:30 P.M
Saturday? 9:30 A.M. – 1:00 P.M
August 27th, 2009 at 11:04 am
We received the same email;
I even called this company; A men answered the phone but he can’t speak Chinese; Odd!!!
Jessica
Auditing Department
TEL: ++852-9566-0205
++852-9566-0496
FAX: ++852-3019-7872
Email: jessica@west-dns.org
Web:http://www.wtl.hk.cn
September 1st, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I recently came across one of my friends recieving a similar email from the same company, here’s the email:
—————————————-
Dear Principal.
We are a domain name registrar centre in Hong Kong,and in charge of the registeration in Asia,we have something important need to confirm through your company. On 25th.Aug.2009, we received a formal application from a company called “Bolu Invest Pty. Ltd” applying to register Network Brand Keyword: XXXXXXXXXXX
Domain names:
XXXXXXXXXXX.asia
XXXXXXXXXXX.cn
XXXXXXXXXXX.com.cn
XXXXXXXXXXX.com.hk
XXXXXXXXXXX.com.tw
XXXXXXXXXXX.travel
During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged “Bolu Invest Pty. Ltd” has no trade mark,Intellectual property, nor patent even similar to that word, we have the duty to inform you this matter. If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other aims to buy these domain names. In order to deal with this issue better, please let someone who can be in charge contact me as soon as possible.
Chris Lin
Auditing Department
Tel: +852-9566-0496 +852-9566-0205
Fax: +852-3019-7872
Email: Chris@dnrcenter.hk Web: http://www.asiadm.hk.cn
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:03 am
Feel silly now – got the same email but actually replied, as we (coincidentally) filed for US TM last week. I thought it was related somehow. Now I will probably be inundated with spam.
Email from:
tony@sk-dns.org
Tel: +852-95660489 +852-95660103
Fax: +852-3019 7872
Email: tony@sk-dns.org,tony@asiadnr.net
Website: http://www.sk-dns.org ,www.asia-gov.com
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:17 am
I must thank the admin to have posted this relevant bit of information. This story is vital for so many people to uncover the scam. I hope this news bit will help many more people to stay away from these lowlife scumbags, the scourge of the internet.
September 2nd, 2009 at 11:18 am
I must thank the admin to have posted this relevant bit of information. This story is vital for so many people to uncover the scam. I hope this news bit will help many more people to stay away from these low life scum bags, the scourge of the internet.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
Well…I feel pretty stupid! Didn’t come as spam and I actually answered the first time. Now they’re only going to hold my domain name for 5 days because some financial holdings company wants to use my ceramic tile domain which seemed a little strange. Of course, that’s if I am not doing business in China, in that case there would be some sort of conflict or problem.:)
Whew!!Thanks so much for posting this!
October 28th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
We recently received a couple of similar emails from “henry@sk-network.org”:
HongKong Head Office:
Tel: +85295660205
Fax: +85230197872
Email:henry@dnrcenter.hk
Web:www.asiadm.hk.cn
November 24th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I got one about a week ago:
Quote start=======================
Dear Manager,
We are SK net service company ltd, the registration organization of trademark,internet
brand and domain name in Asia.
On 15th,November.We have already received Juda Asia Industry Limited want to register
(xxxxxxxxxxxxx) internet brand and related domain names. After our department checked,you are
the original owner of the brand,you have the first protection right. please let me know
whether your company authorize JUDA to register them or regsiter them by yourself. If we
can not receive your reply within a period,we will think that your company given up them
and we will help Juda Asia Industry Limited to register them. Looking forward your
response! Best Regards, Tony
SK Asia
Tel: 00852-3071 7712
Fax:00852-3071 7730
http://www.skasia.hk.cn
=======================
Got an email today and replied with pointed questions about the “Juda Asia Industry Limited”.
We’ll see what happens with that;)
November 24th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Dear CEO,
We are the department of registration service in China. we have something need to confirm with you. We formally received an application on Nov. 23, 2009, One company which is called ” A&Z FOUNDATIONS,INC.” is applying to register “****” as brand name and domain names as below :
****.asia
****.com.hk
****.hk
****.in
After our initial checking, we found the brand name and these domain names being applied are as same as your company’s, so we need to confirm with your company. If the aforesaid company is your business partner or your subsidiary company, please DO NOT reply us, we will approve the application automatically. If you have no any relationship with this company, please contact us to handle it within 7 workdays. If out of the deadline, we will approve the application being submitted by the applicant unconditionally.
Best Regards,
Lisa Wang
Auditing Deptment
Tel: +0086-21-37529318
Website: http://www.china-dnsnet.net.cn
Address: 5F, No.885 Green Ark Building
East Huancheng Road, Fengxian, Shanghai
2009-11-24
November 26th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
I’m interested to know how a company from Haitong Investment have a internet keyword of “locksmith-afford and my domain is .co.za and not what they provide .cn/.com/.net.cn/.org.cn etc. etc. what is the whole idea behind this email anyway ….? if someone can please explain in plain what this is about and what should be done if any. thanks
November 30th, 2009 at 3:44 am
I received the same e-mail on november 10th from “Anita”.
Now they are targetting Brazil too.
Marco A. Kehl
November 30th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
I’ve got one from Julia Ning
December 1st, 2009 at 11:16 am
He, he
Got a comment on my blog where I told about this and referenced this blog. It was very short:
“fuck you”
Also got an email from Tony that was basically the same, except a bit more colorful. I replied and simply re-iterated my questions. We’ll see how that goes
Best regards,
December 5th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Very helpful blog .. I just got an email from Jerry Lee at http://www.westnet.hk.cn. Decent looking site, but it just didn’t track.
December 8th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Hi all
Thanks for this Blog. I just got teh same email from following person:
Liz.Li
Auditing Manager
International Registration(Auditing) Dept.
———————————————————–
Hong Kong Head Office:
Tel: +852-956-60205
Fax:+852-307-17730
Email:liz@sk-yzym.com/Liz@netservice.hk
Web:http://www.sk-dns.org
December 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I got too from:
—
Blake Tao
TEL+852-6517 0670
FAX+852-30197872
Email: blake@win-west.cn
http:// http://www.world-wtc.cn
December 15th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I’ve received similar email……
Dear CFO / COO,
We are a professional intellectual property rights consultant organization based in HongKong, we have an important issue to confirm with you.
1. On Dec. 15, 2009, one company named Tzpsk Investment Co. applied for the Brand Keywords ” Sessions” and the following Domain Names with our organization.
sessions.hk
sessions.com.hk
sessions.kr
sessions.com.tw
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 Tzpsk Investment Co. to register these Domain Names with us? Or is Tzpsk Investment Co. your business partner?
4. If you do not have any relationship with this applicant, we assume that they have other purposes to obtain these Domain Names.
Currently, we have already postponed this company’s application temporarily. Pls let the relevant principal make a confirmation with me ASAP.
Thanks & Regards,
Jake Zhang
T: +852-6517-0438
F: +852-3069-6940
M: Jake@bestweb-hk.com
W: http://www.bestweb-hk.com
December 17th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
here is another one, and thanks alot for the blog:
andy.wang@chinadns-tic.org.cn
January 12th, 2010 at 11:35 am
Great job on blogging about this type of internet fraud. I received a similar email regarding my domains, so I did a search for “www.sk-dns.org scam” and this post came up.
January 15th, 2010 at 1:13 am
I just received this! Thanks to this site I can see it’s ‘Cary Feng’ from ‘dnrcenter’ still keeping this crap up. I wish people would et a real job!
Dear President/CEO,
Hello!Sorry to trouble you!
We are a domain name registration service company in HongKong, which mainly deal with international company’s domain name registration and disputing in Asia.On the Jan 13, 2010, we received an application formally from Jinshen Investment Co., Ltd,who applied for the Internet trademark: “my web-site” and some domain names relevant to this trademark from our organization.
According to our procedures and in order to protect your intellectual property rights, we need to send this email to the original company for confirming the actual relationship with this company.If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other motivation to register these domain names and probably want to do some cybersquatting. Now we have postponed this issue and have not proceeded their registration,In order not to confuse registering these domain names,Please contact us Asap.
PS:If you are not in charge of this matter,please transfer this email to appropriate dept.
Best Regards,
Cary.feng
Web: http://www.asiadm.org
Tel: 00852-95660496
Fax: 00852-30197872
mail:cary@cnsknet.cn
January 18th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
Thanks for the updates, it’s good to know people are still searching for them when they get these scam emails. I am going to send a copy to the scammers with a link to this blog so they know we are all talking about their scam. They are scum and I wish I knew for sure where they were so I could report them. I am sure the Chinese government would be interested to know what they are doing. 🙂
January 20th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
Another one. Has anyone called the numbers in the email to talk to someone? I get a kick out of responding to these emails and trying to figure out what they want.
Dear Principal,
We are a domain name registration and dispute organization in Asia, which mainly deal with the global companies’ domain name registration and internet intellectual property right protection. Currently, we have a pretty important issue needing to confirm with your company.
On January, 19, 2010, we received an application formally. One company named “Ilstone company.”wanted to applied for the Internet brand keyword and some domain names from our organization.
Now we are handling with the registration of these domain names and find that the keyword of these domain names and internet trademark is identical with your company’s. So we have to confirm with you at two points:
1. If your company consign Ilstone company to register these domain names and internet keyword, we will send application form to them and help them finish the registration at once.
2. If your company have nothing to do with Ilstone company, they maybe have other purposes to register these domain names and internet keyword.
We haven’t finished the registration of Ilstone. yet, and we have postponed this application of this company temporarily already. In order to deal with this issue better, please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.
Waiting for your reply ASAP.
Best Regards,
Tom.Wang
Sponsoring Registrar:
SKNETDNR
Tel: 00852-65171987
Fax: 00852-30696940
Email: Tom@sknetservice.com
Website: http://www.skdnr.org
January 25th, 2010 at 8:57 pm
Your blog put my worries to rest, thanks. Recieved the following from “Daisy” …
Dear Principal,
We are a professional organization mainly engaged in Internet intellectual property management in Asia. Currently, we have a pretty important issue needing to confirm with your company.On January,24, 2010, we received an application formally, One company who called Cumulative Holdings Ltd. are applying for following:
The Internet trademark:
multi-clean
Domain names:
multi-clean.asia
multi-clean.com.cn
with our organization.
During our preliminary investigation, we found that these domain names’ keyword is identical with your trademark. I wonder whether you consigned Cumulative Holdings Ltd. to register these domain names with us? Or is Cumulative Holdings Ltd. your business partner or distributor in Asia?
We haven’t finished the registration of Cumulative Holdings Ltd. yet, and we have postponed this application of this company temporarily already. In order to deal with this issue better, please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.Waiting for your reply ASAP.
Best Regards,
Daisy
Sponsoring Registrar:
SKNETDNR
Tel: +852-65171987
Fax: +852-30696940
Email: Daisy@sknetservice.com
Website: http://www.skdnr.org
February 1st, 2010 at 6:48 pm
I cant believe this scam is still going after so long, I got this one this morning, Name changed of my domain of course.
Dear CFO / COO,
We are a professional intellectual property rights consultant organization based in HongKong, we have an important issue to confirm with you.
1. On Jan.31, 2010, one company named Oitan Investment Co. applied for the Brand Keywords “xwycompany” and the following Domain Names with our organization.
xwycompany.asia
xwycompany.cn
xwycompany.com.cn
xwycompany.com.hk
xwycompany.com.tw
xwycompany.hk
xwycompany.net.cn
xwycompany.org.cn
xwycompany.tw
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 Oitan Investment Co. to register these Domain Names with us? Or is Oitan Investment Co. your business partner?
4. If you do not have any relationship with this applicant, we assume that they have other purposes to obtain these Domain Names.
Currently, we have already postponed this company’s application temporarily. Pls let the relevant principal make a confirmation with me ASAP.
Thanks & Regards,
Angel Lei
T: +852-6517-0438
F: +852-3069-6940
M: angel@bestweb-hk.com
W: http://www.bestweb-hk.com
Note: The information contained in this message may be privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you.
March 11th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Im an actual US trademark attorney and my clents are always getting these scam emails….I have been getting annoyed so decided to set up a gmail account (never email them from your real emails)….and responded (without listing the trademark or domain they initially sent the notice about) saying that I was interested…I keep going back and forth with this f*** telling him yes I will give him thousands and thousands of dollars and then changing my mind again and again…good fun! …he is waiting on a $4,800 check ….its in the mail…ha, ha….i guess ill have to resend it…
March 24th, 2010 at 11:09 pm
Hello all,
I was forwarded the following email (it was sent to human resources):
Dear Manager
We are a professional intellectual property rights consultant organization, mainly deal with the global domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection.
On March. 24th, 2010, we formally received an application from KangShen Technology Limited, they applied to register the internet brand ( ourcompanyname ) and some in China and Asia’s domain name.
During our preliminary investigation, we found that these domain names’ keyword is fully identical with your trademark. Therefore, we need to confirm with you, whether you
consigned KangShen Technology Limited to register these domain names with us or not? Or, is KangShen Technology Limited your business partner or distributor?
If you have no relationship with this company, we assume that they have other purposes to obtain these domain names.
Currently, we have already suspended this company’s application temporarily due to the seriousness of this isuue. In order to avoid the vicious domain name grabbing,
please let the relevant person make a confirmation with me via email as soon as possible. Thank you for your support to our work!
Best Regards!
Anne Ling
Registration Department Manager
Hong Kong NewName Net Service Limited
Tel:+852-3069 6940
Fax:+852-3071 7730
Email:anne@trademarkdns.com
Internet:www.trademarkdns.com
So the scam is alive and well, with a new name. Wanted to share.
March 28th, 2010 at 1:21 am
[…] This can all sound very believable if you are not in a web-profession. A quick search on Google confirmed that this was indeed nothing else then fraud. […]
March 29th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Sir/ Madam ,
We are a professional intellectual property rights consultant organization, mainly engaged in domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection.
We formally received an application from Fusu(Hongkong) Investments Ltd on Mar. 28, 2010, whom applied for registering the internet keyword “ucukltd ”and some related domain names with our organization.
During our preliminary investigation, we found the keyword of those domain names is identical as your trademark. Therefore, we need to confirm with you whether you consigned Fusu(Hongkong) Investments Ltd to register with us or not? Or, is Fusu(Hongkong)Investments Ltd your partner or distributor? If you don’t have any relationship with this company, they may probably have other purposes to obtain those domain names and internet keyword.
We have already suspended this company’s application temporarily due to the seriousness of this issue. In order to avoid the vicious domain name grab, please let your principal make a confirmation with me via telephone or email as soon as possible. Thank you for your support to our work!
Best Regards
Alina
Tel :+852-6517 0670
Fax:+852-3019 7872
Email: alian@win-west.cn
http:// http://www.world-wtc.cn
More to add to the list!!
March 31st, 2010 at 7:43 pm
I just got the exact same email and decide to Google it before responding. Yes they are back, alive and still using the very same email. I guess they must have got enough response to justify it.
April 1st, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Thank you for the comments,we’ve just received the same e-mail
Dear CFO / President,
We are a professional intellectual property rights consultant organization based in HongKong, we have an important issue to confirm with you.
1. On Mar.17, 2010, one company named Mopaha Holdings Ltd applied for the following 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 Mopaha Holdings Ltd to register these Domain Names with us? Or is Mopaha Holdings Ltd your business partner?
4. If you do not have any relationship with this applicant, we assume that they have other purposes to obtain these Domain Names.
Currently, we have already postponed this company’s application temporarily. Pls let the relevant principal make a confirmation with me ASAP.
Thanks & Regards,
Ron Yang
Tel: +852-6517-0438
Fax: +852-3069-6940
Mail: ron@bestweb-hk.com
Web: http://www.bestweb-hk.com
April 15th, 2010 at 6:06 am
I like to reply to these with the following:
Dear ,
Thank you for your email. I am sorry that you and your client are unaware of current legalities with relation to domain registration and International Trademark/Patent law. We consider your correspondence threatening, harassing and with the intent to blatantly slander our good Internationally Trademarked name.
We have taken the initiative to report you and your efforts to The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Our attorneys will be in contact with you and your client, LIAN Investments Ltd. shortly.
Regards,
April 15th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Yes, year after year the same tired old crap gets spewed out to rip off the innocent. I am the puter guy, so I get forwarded these emails to deal with. Heck, the Nigerian bank scam is still making the rounds. Has anyone that is online/has an email account not heard of this scam? Do people really send these vermin any money? Sigh, well, I will need to shoot off an email to
Chris Lin
Auditing Department
Tel: 00852-956-60205
Fax: 00852-306-96940
Email: chris@skasiadnr.net Direct: Chris@dnrcenter.hk
Website: http://www.sk-dns.org
and start giving them the run a round. AA has the right idea, you gotta mess with these sucka’s! Cuz no government is going to bother chasing them down and make them stop, there are too many fleabags out there to chase.. Thanks for posting the blog so thinking folks can check on the facts!
April 15th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
[…] for all the gory details (including copypasta of the email conversation I had with "Lebron Zhu"). Sinohosting also reported on this when it first began […]
April 16th, 2010 at 1:36 am
Thanks for providing this information. I received this email today so I want to inform others.
Dear President&CEO,
We are an organization specified at dealing with domain name dispute and registration in Asia. We have something important on intellectual property right need to confirm with your company.
Today we received a formal application from a company called Emarketplace International, who applied to register ” profitsmakeover ” as their domain name in some countries and Network Trademark.
During our preliminary investigation, we found that these domain names’ keyword is identical with your trademark. I wonder whether you consigned Emarketplace International to register these domain names with us? Or is Emarketplace International your business partner or distributor in Asia?
Currently, we have already postponed this application of this company temporarily. Therefore please let the relevant person make a confirmation with me by telephone or email ASAP
Best Regards,
Wanda Peng
Auditing Department(HK Office)
Tel:oo852 95 66 0205
FAX:oo852-3071-7730
Email:wanda@sk-work.com
wanda.peng@dnrcenter.hk
Web:www.asiadm.hk.cn
April 27th, 2010 at 9:42 am
Has anybody tried to visit their office, to see if they are for real? I was approached by this company called sk-work or http://www.sk-dns.org/
I feigned interest, got some details on them. They list their address as:
Add:3A, Units 20/F, Far East Consortium Bldg.,
121 Des Voeux Road, Central, Hong Kong
Now Des Voeux Road is a prestigeous address. But any fake company can list there. Those of you who are in Hong Kong, in Central or on Des Voeux, go and check it out.
June 7th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
I just received the same scam email. This one was from amy@trademarkdns.com:
Dear Manager
We are Hong Kong NewName Net Service Limited, an Service organization of Internet in China.
On June 07, 2010, we formally received an application from QingMan Investment Co., Ltd. they applied to register the
internet brand and some in China and Asia’s domain name.
During our preliminary investigation, we found that these domain names’ brand is fully identical with your trademark.
Therefore, we need to confirm with you, whether you consigned QingMan Investment Co., Ltd. to register these
domain names with us or not? Or, is QingMan Investment Co., Ltd. your business partner or distributor?
If you have no relationship with this company, we assume that they have other purposes to obtain these domain names.
Currently, we have already suspended this company’s application temporarily due to the seriousness of this isuue.
In order to avoid the vicious domain name grabbing, please let the relevant person make a confirmation with me via
email as soon as possible. Thank you for your support to our work!
Best Regards!
Amy Hu
Registration Department Manager
Hong Kong NewName Net Service Limited
Tel:+852 3077 4292
Fax:+852 8193 2728
Email:amy@trademarkdns.com
Internet:www.trademarkdns.com
June 16th, 2010 at 7:52 am
Thanks for posting this… Just got this same scam from a chinese IP and email address from china-wipo.org,
Domain ID:D159203910-LROR
Domain Name:CHINA-WIPO.ORG
Created On:18-May-2010 03:38:21 UTC
Expiration Date:18-May-2011 03:38:21 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Hichina Zhicheng Technology Limited (R1373-LROR)
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:hc562035255-cn
Registrant Name:Wang Bao Lin
Registrant Organization:Wang Bao Lin
Registrant Street1:Shang hai caoan shang cheng 9chen 931
Registrant Street2:
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Shang Hai
Registrant State/Province:Shanghai
Registrant Postal Code:200063
Registrant Country:CN
Registrant Phone:+86.21998873654
Registrant Phone Ext.:0
Registrant FAX:+86.21998387654
Registrant FAX Ext.:0
Registrant Email:hlhs.123@163.com
June 21st, 2010 at 9:31 am
I received also a mail from a “Sonia.Lee”;
Dear CEO and Manager,
I am Sonia from an Iinternational Organization, which provided professional solutions to the global Internet issues. For a responsible attitude, we need to confirm a very important issue with you. On Jun. 17, 2010, we received a formal application form from a person called John. He would like to use “XXXXXXXXXX” to register some domains and keyword through our company. After our initial review, we found that this keyword is being used by your company. Considering that once we accept this kind of registration, it will cause great conflict and confusion on the Internet to you both. Therefore we inform you about it in no time. I do not know whether your company or your company’s partners commissioned John to register them through our registry centre. In order to handle this question sucessfully, we have put off this person’s application temporarily, please confirm me by email or phone as soon as quickly. In addition, we must point out that we retain such registration for a person or company for a limited period, only 15 days. If not received any comments from your company within the specified time, we will complete all the registration for John. Look forward to your response as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.
Best Reagards,
Sonia.Lee
Tel: +852-31757931(ext8016)
Fax: +852-31757932
Email: sonia.lee@adrimc.hk
Website:www.apidnr.com.hk
July 1st, 2010 at 3:31 pm
Same email from
Amy Hu
Registration Department Manager
Hong Kong NewName Net Service Limited
Tel:+852 3077 4292
Fax:+852 8193 2728
Email:amy@trademarkdns.com
Internet:www.trademarkdns.com
received today – seems this one has gone on a few months with only minor changes – thanks for the blog post.