Articles

News: Beware of Fake Trademark Domain name scams!

We've recently seen an increased number of emails, letters, and web form posts from companies purporting to alert you of trademark infringements in foreign countries.  These are NOT legitimate.

A few of our clients have forwarded messages similar to one we received also (pasted below) which claim that they have received notification that someone is buying domain names similar to yours, but with different top-level-domain identifiers (co.uk, co.asia, .cn, .tw, etc).  Sometimes they are worded (translated) so poorly that it’s obvious it’s a scam.  But others are well worded and can cause you to be concerned.

I assure you these are FAKE and are simply form-letters that include enough publicly viewable WHOIS information that make them appear legitimate.

They are trying to get you to buy the domain names that they are offering.  This guarantees an annual renewal fee for them, no matter how small ($10/yr).  My recommendation is to ignore them… they are not legitimate, and the story is fabricated.

Over time, you already establish your own Internet presence using your own .com, .net, .org, or any other TLD domain names.  There is no reason to purchase alternative domain names unless you have a global worldwide presence. 

To our Clients: Our advice is to ignore these letters so as to not encourage this type of fraudulent money making schemes.  They wouldn’t keep doing it if they weren’t profiting from it.  We're always happy (and amused) to read them, so if you receive a similar letter, please forward it to us.

Samples of real emails received:   (actual domain names removed)

 

Dear Principal.
 
We have something important to confirm with your company.
On the June.4th 2010, we received an application formally from one company named "During Investment LTD" who applied for the Internet Keyword"jacksontechnical" and some domain names relevant to this trademark from our organization.
 
After our initial examination, we found that the Internet Keyword and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company's name and trademark.

These days we are dealing with it,so we hope to get assistant from your company.
 
Considering this issue will relate to your intellectual property, now we have not finished the registration of During Investment LTD yet,in order to deal with this issue better, Please forward this email to the person who can be in charge and contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible. Thank you !
 
Best Regards!
 
Jane
 
Auditing department

 

 

Dear Manager,
 
Asia Network is the company of internet services that the domain registration is one of the major online style of our service range.Now we have something need to confirm with you.We hope you to cooperate with us.On October. 21th 2008,we received an application from one person named “John Smith” who wants to register some domains(YOURDOMAIN.asia YOURDOMAIN.tw YOURDOMAIN.jp YOURDOMAIN.kr)and internet brand(YOURDOMAIN).According to our investigation,we found that domain names have relevance to your company’s name and trademark,so we send this email for you to confirm it.We are dealing with this affair in these days,so we wish to get the confirmation and the assent of your company.If John Alldis doesn’t belong to your company and you don’t authorize him to register these domains,Pls contact with me asap in order to prevent some guy from abusing your trademarks and the company names.
In addition,I must state that we have time limited for one person or one company’s registration.It is just 15 days.If your company files doesn't resent within the time limited.We will unconditionally authorized the application of John Smith.In order to deal with this issue better,please let someone who is responsible for trademark or domain name contact me asap.Thank you for your cooperate.

 
Best Regards,
 
Doris Jan
Sponsoring Registrar:
Asia Network

 

Dear CEO,      

We are a domain name registrar centre in HongKong,and in charge of the registeration in Asia,We have something important need to confirm through your  company.

I am a super football fan, do you like the soccer?

We received a formal application from a company called "Takeal Investments Ltd" applying to register

Internet  Trademark :     YOURDOMAIN

Domain names :

 YOURDOMAIN.net
 YOURDOMAIN.biz
 YOURDOMAIN.info
 YOURDOMAIN.jobs
 YOURDOMAIN.mobi
 YOURDOMAIN.cn
 YOURDOMAIN.com.cn
 YOURDOMAIN.net.cn
 YOURDOMAIN.org.cn
 YOURDOMAIN.cc
 YOURDOMAIN.hk
 YOURDOMAIN.com.hk
 YOURDOMAIN.tw
 YOURDOMAIN.com.tw

 
In China and also in Asia on July.22 2009. During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged "Takeal Investments Ltd" has no trade mark,Intellectual  property, nor patent even similar to that word. As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect the alleged "Takeal Investments Ltd" to be a  domain grabber. Hence we need you confirmation for two things:
 
First of all, whether this alleged "Takeal Investments Ltd" is your business partner or distributor in China.

Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains. (The alleged "Takeal Investments Ltd" will be entitled to obtain a domain not needed by  original trademark owner.)

If you are not in charge of this please transfer this email to appropriate dept.in order to deal with this issue better, please let someone who is  responsible for trademark or domain name contact me as soon as possible. 

Confidentiality Notice: This is a letter for confirmation. If the mentioned third party is your business partner or distributor in China please DO NOT reply.  We will automatically confirm application from your business partner after this audit procedure.we have to notify you,and our registration organization are  not responsible for any dispute questions about trade mark,intellectual property nor patent after they succeed in registration.hope you can understand.thank  you.

Sincerely,

kaka.xu
Sponsoring Registrar:sk holdings company ltd 

 

This article viewed 23798 times as of 04/19/2024 --- First published on 06/20/2010 --- Last modified on 06/20/2010

<< Back to Articles


Note: Some of our articles were originally published several years ago. There may be errors or newer information. If you find an error, please use the Contact page to let us know. We create these articles as a public benefit to our fellow IT Support and network administration professionals.