Chinese Domain Scam

A recent scam email uses the following technique:

• The scam email has a long story (see below) mentioning your web site name (which could be your business name or trade mark)
• It mentions that someone else is interested in registering a web site with your web site’s name
• The scam offers to sell you a .cn domain name (.cn is the top level domain for China)

Below is a sample of this scam email:

Dear Sir

We received a formal application from a company who is called Meiao Investment Co.,Ltd are applying to register “—” as their domain name and Internet keyword in China and also in Asia on Apr 17 2008. During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged Meiao Investment Co.,Ltd has no trade mark, brand nor patent even similar to that word. As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect the alleged Meiao Investment Co.,Ltd to be a domain grabber. Hence we need you confirmation for two things,

First of all, whether this alleged Meiao Investment Co.,Ltd is your business partner or distributor in China.

Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains. (The alleged Meiao Investment Co.,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.

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.

Bst Rgs
chenllychen
Registration Commissioner
Beijing HA ZD Networks Science and Technology Co., Ltd
Tel: +86-10-82772601
Fax: +86-10-82773610
Email: chenlly.chen@ha-zd.com
http://www.ha-zd.com.cn

There are quite a few variations to this email, the concept is the same. Don’t reply to these emails and certainly don’t buy domain names from them. It’s just another scam. If you really want a Chinese domain name buy one from a reputable registrar.