Domain name issues

[peter.coombe]

Thought I would run this through you guys and see what you think.

Yesterday I received a strange email from someone claiming to be from the Chinese domain name registrar (asianetwork.org.cn). He has someone who has requested to register petercoombe.cn, petercoombe.com.cn and other domain names with petercoombe as the name, plus register petercoombe as their internet key word. It looked legit as far as I could determine so I replied and objected. Later I received another email from the applicant, which also looked legit, claiming the registration was important for his business. I replied objecting, pointing out that he is NOT Peter Coombe and it makes no sense to want to register those domain names. So far today, no reply. Now anything coming out of China is highly suspicious, so this may be bogus, but as far as I can tell it looks ok. My suspicion is that the applicant is either a cyber squatter or a scam artist who thinks he might be able to scam my customers out of their money by tricking them into accidently connecting to the wrong domain name.

My suspicions are I have never heard of being able to register an internet key word, and looking at the header of the original email, the from email address is asianetwork.org.cn, but the return path is ygmail.com.cn. This makes me suspicious it might be a very clever scammer or then again could be legit. There is nothing in the email to raise any suspicions. English is good and it has a footer with address and phone number and logo of the domain name registrar (that of course might be stolen). If it is legit, how do I stop petercoombe.xxx getting on to the Chinese domain?

[kiwigeo]

Definitely sounds bogus Pete.

This might help: https://www.holmanwebb.com.au/blog/462/ ... omain-name

[Joshyouare]

Sounds like their next move will be to either demand you pay a fee to stop them using your name (scam), or inform you that they wish to compensate you for the inconvenience and you just need to send them your bank details for them to deposit, at which point they will wrack up a bunch of charges to your account!!

Just my 2 cents

Josh.

[Mark McLean]

This might be from the same lovely lady who phoned me yesterday to say that I had just been signed up to an Amazon service at a cost of $99 but if I thought this was a mistake all I had to do was ring her back straight way and she could sort it out with my bank.

[peter.coombe]

They are not getting any money out of me, and certainly not any bank account details, even if the scumbag does manage to get the domain name in my name. There is not a lot I can do if it all happens in China under the Chinese high level domain names. I did tell the domain name fellow that it looked like cybersquatting to me and he told the scumbag to use another name. That of course could all be bogus. We wait and see, still no replies.

[Dave M]

I am not any sort of expert in this area but this doesn't sound right at all. Isn't domain allocation done by an internatiional body, not by national institutions?

There are probably people here who know more about this stuff. Hopefully they will chime in.

Whatever, I would continue to resist this.

[peter.coombe]

Only high level domains are done by an international body. Lower level domain names are done by organizations in the individual countries' domain.

[peter.coombe]

I have just received an email from the domain registry fellow. This time I can't find anything to suggest it might be bogus. The return path is the same as the return email address, i.e. asianetwork.org.cn, and I can't find anything else in the header or email to raise suspicion. Asian Network does exist and is a Chinese domain registry. Looks like the only thing I can do to stop this it to register petercoombe.cn etc.

Ok, a bit more research and this is very likely a scam. Internet "keywords" do exist, but they only work in China, and apparently some of the Chinese domain registries are doing this to get more business. Highly unethical IMHO, and they should be stripped of their right to register domain names. The company they say is wanting to register the domain name does not exist. In my case the company is actually a UK based company, not Chinese, and i can't find anything in China under the same name. Quite a clever scam. I am not targeting Chinese customers, so will ignore it.

[TallDad71]

Hi Peter

My advice would be not to worry. You have your .com address, it is part of your brand and it is most likely safe and secure.

In the early days of the World Wide Web, high level domain names were such as .com .org , .au, .uk, .cn were few in number. Each country would have a domain name server which would correctly direct domain names that were children of their tag (.uk). The Americans still have a dirty great server that redirects all .com traffic correctly, including your domain.

A good few years back, the organisation that controls the web, ICANN, made a few dramatic changes. One was to allow URLs to be in other alphabets, arabic, Chinese for example. The other was to allow any company to set up their own Domain Name Server for a specific high level domain name for example, .xxx, .maths, .guitar, .anything and .everything

This means that there as many possible URL endings as there are words, and you cannot buy them all, I imagine. And that is the solution to your concern.

The email you received is most likely genuine, it is a company fishing for business, knowing that you have a .com address (Associated with America and international websites) it believed you might want to conquer Chine with your brand and is being helpful.

Given that you can't buy them all, you only need to have one, your .com address is just fine. If someone does decide to by your name with .xxx then bad luck. Its a very slim chance though.

[peter.coombe]

Yes, I came to the same conclusion. I got an application form from the Chinese domain registry but replied telling him I can't buy them all, and since I don't have any Chinese customers and am not targeting China forget it. If I was trying to sell in China that would be another matter.

[kiwigeo]

Yes, I came to the same conclusion. I got an application form from the Chinese domain registry but replied telling him I can't buy them all, and since I don't have any Chinese customers and am not targeting China forget it. If I was trying to sell in China that would be another matter.

I would have used less polite language. The Chinese domain registry is engaging in dishonest behaviour.

[kiwigeo]

The email you received is most likely genuine, it is a company fishing for business, knowing that you have a .com address (Associated with America and international websites) it believed you might want to conquer Chine with your brand and is being helpful.

Nothing genuine about the communications being received by Pete. It's a well established scam/extortion racket being run by numerous Chinese registries

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comme ... f_someone/

[Allen]

I've had similar emails many times over the years Peter. Just tell them to piss off. It's only a scam to part the easily fooled with their money.