SCAM: Asian Domain Name Registration E-mails


Be careful of Asian  "property right consultants" or "government domain name" offices.

GOOGLE: DOMAIN REGISTRATION ASIA SCAM and you will see what I mean!

Just when I thought when people can't get any worse, things like this happen.  When I received the first e-mail from the "Chinese Internet" government office telling me that a company by the name of XYZ was securing the keyword "Zaharoff" in China.  At first glance, it seemed to me to be legitimate and I responded by asking them what to do?  I was informed I could purchase it myself.  The cost $3,000!

After doing some searches I couldn't find this "Internet" government office and my gut told me to just ignore it...and I did.  Since then, I have received four e-mails similar to the first, but from a consultant organization in Asia.  This time I wanted to blog about this because companies and people should be warned about this scam.

If someone contacts you stating they are a government office in China and that some Chinese company wishes to register a domain name under the name you do business under, think twice.  Go to a legitimate website like godaddy.com and register in that manner.

This is one of four or five e-mails I have received.  They have been from different parties, but the same exact verbiage.  Even a check on this so-called "Viamich S&T Info Corp, Ltd" shows this company doesn't exist. 

Here it is:

Dear President&CEO,
 
We are a professionalintellectual property right consultant organization in Asia, who mainlydeal with the global domain name registration and internet intellectualproperty right protection.
 
Right now we have an important issue to confirm with you. On November.9, 2009, we formally received an application, one company named"Viamich S&T Info Corp, Ltd."  applied for the internet brandkeyword "zaharoff" and following domain names:
with our organization.
 
During our preliminaryinvestigation, we found that these domain names' keyword is identicalwith your trademark. I wonder whether you consigned Viamich company toregister these domain names with us? Or is Viamich company yourbusiness partner or distributor in Asia?If you have no relationshipwith this company, we assume that they have other purposes to obtainthese domain names.
Currently, we havealready postponed this company's application temporarily. Thereforeplease let the relevant person make a confirmation with me by telephoneor email as soon as possible.
 
Thanks & Regards,
 
Aimee

Web: http://www.china-onenet.hk
Tel:  00(852)-9566-0489
        00(852)-9566-0103
Fax: 00(852)-3019-7872
Mail: Aimee@chinaonenet.hk.cn  &  Aimee@china-onenet.net

Posted by George Zaharoff at 11 November 2009, 11:40 PM
Categories: My Thoughts
Tags: trademark scam governent brand domain keyword application name property internet intellectual asia consultant china
 
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  • 19 November 2009, 1:56 AM Heke wrote:
    Thanks George about the info.
    Got also almost exact copy of that. Cannot imagine some are doing that for living... pests.

    It may be best to not even check their web page, as they may correlate the visit to the sent email and that way confirm that the receiver is active. The best way is just to delete the message and add the domain to spam filter.
    1. 19 November 2009, 2:01 AM George Zaharoff wrote:
      I forgot to state this as well.  Thank you so much for adding to this!  I don't know what they will think of next.

      Yours,
      George

  • 26 November 2009, 8:36 PM Christopher Jones wrote:
    Thanks for posting this George. I too have received 2 different e-mails, identical to the one you received. They claimed the same company was trying to register all those domain names, as well as my trademark. When I Googled them and the ficticious company I found your post.

    Thanks Chris
    1. 26 November 2009, 11:29 PM George Zaharoff wrote:
      Chris -
      That's awesome - glad it was useful! GZ

  • 5 January 2010, 11:39 AM Karen wrote:
    Thanks for the info. I have just received the same spam. At first from Aimee@chinaonenet.hk. Like everyone else. The first thing you think is that the product that I legitimately have being made in China is trying to be copied by someone else and then they are also trying to have my doamin name taken overseas as well to capture some of my sales.
    So I thank you for the info

    Karen (01/05/10)
  • 26 February 2010, 8:25 AM Jeff Anderson wrote:
    Thank you for posting this. I received same thing this morning. I had just talked with a new manufacturing source for theCRICKETtoy® (our product)and so to get this email now made it 'possible' that it was legit.
    My dad, a retired US Customs officer, says there are things that are DLRs.

    Don't Look Right

    This is one.

    Found your blog post and one other with plenty of people adding in that it happened to them too and that's all I need.

    Thank you so much for taking the time to post this. Seriously. SO much money, time, hassle and concern are saved because of your post.

    If you want George, I'll send you one of theCRICKETtoy® for free just to say thanks.

    All the best.

    Jeff
    theCRICKETtoy®
    for those awkward pauses (crickets chirping)
    1. 27 February 2010, 12:22 PM George Zaharoff wrote:
      Your father is a very smart man.  For someone like us, who work so hard in creating products and to get an e-mail like this one is distressful.  I actually believed it initially.

      I will happily accept your gift!  Remember, you become what you believe...so think success, prosperity and wealth!

      George

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