Have you received this scam email yet?

The email comes from a web hosting company somewhere in China. The email address will look something like this:

xxxx.xxxx - can be any possible first and last names and yiguandns.cn can differ as well.

The email says that some company in China wants to use the same domain name as yours except with .cn, .com.cn, etc. extensions and the hosting company is wondering whether or not it's going to violate the trademark and copyright rights.

Obviously, as a prudent business person you will reply back and say, no, you do not want anyone to use your domain name, even with different extensions. And THAT'S exactly what they are hoping for.

Then you will receive another email supposedly from the angry customer of that hosting company who'll tell you that their business WILL use the domain name, no matter what.

The bottom line is after a few angry emails they will ask you to pay them for them to go away.

More on the scam:

http://www.europeandomaincentre.com...gistration-service-in-china-etc.#.VEUlM_nF-ul

and:

http://www.insercorp.com/blog/post/december/09/2010/beware-of-chinese-domain-scams/

I didn't fall prey for this crap, I went online and researched the whole thing soon after I got the first email. I just want to make sure everyone knows it's a scam that looks really legitimate.

 

I should have been a bit a more clear up there. When I said "to pay them" I meant "to pay for those domains for them to go away". My bad. But it's still pretty much the same scam: Extorting money for something you don't need or will ever use.

 

I have gotten these emails. The cable business seems to be a magnet for such emails. They get deleted quickly.

 

I have gotten these as well, last one I got I wrote back and said something like "They have my permission for $5000 cash" and I never heard from them again.

I dont really consider it to be a scam, more of a super sleezy sales pitch to buy unneeded domain extensions. Theres is (or will be) over 2k TLD's, so I know I cannot protect my brand in every TLD.