You don't need to send money to China to keep your domain
*From*: "Laurence.Rockefeller"Asia Domain Name Registration Limited - Scam
Laurence.Rockefeller@TradeMarkSolutions.cn
*Date*: XXXXX
*To*: XXXXXXX
*Subject*: XXXX inquiry
Dear XXXXX ,We are one of the Domain Name Dispute Resolution (DNDR) Committee members authorized by ANIC(Asia Internet Network Information Center).
Now we have something urgent need to confirm with your company. On the Sep17, 2008, we received the GoldenSunshine International Investment Group's application that they want to register the “ * XXXX * ” as their Internet Brand and Asia Pacific domains. Considering these domains and internet brand would involve the intellectual property of your company’s name,patents,trademarks,and copyright, and in order to avoid confusion between them, so we inform you urgently. If you considered these domains and internet brand are important to you and there was necessary to protect them by registering them first, please let someone who is responsible for trademark or domain name contact me as soon as possible.Thank you for you cooperation.
I am waiting for your urgent reply,
Kind Regards,
Dr. Laurence Rockefeller
Chief Law Officer,Senior Consulting DirectorInternet Brand Justice & Safety Dept.
*Asia Pacific* *TradeMark Solutions Ltd* (Branch Office)
*Help Dispute Tel:* +86-10101-75620-6698 ext.888 (Mon–Fri,9am to 6:30pm,GMT+8)
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As if someone named "Dr. Rockefeller" would be so cavalier with his application of comma's and the proper application of spaces thereafter. They always just give themselves away.
Yeah, we (the Web 2.0 company I work for who shall remain nameless) ran into the same issue. I got all tweaky about (I'm the Ops/IT manager) it until I talked to the company the handles our Domain registration and tracking (Mark Monitor). My contact there basically said it's a Chinese registrar that's trolling for domain registrations.
#1, you read my mind.
If you fall for this you shouldn't be allowed to own a domain in the first place. The fact this is a scam is so thick it's practically a window (which is transparent, catch my drift?).
Owning a couple of domains I have had so many of these I can practically dream 'em. Sad to realize people actually do still fall for these.
"Thank you for you cooperation."
Yeah...
What can one say but LOL?
A number of my clients have received similar letters. They charge like $500 per domain if you contact them. Scam, but it's been going on for a while (at least a year and a half), so clearly it works.
It's also pretty clear that the folks taking care of the DNS system aren't doing a damn thing about it. That's ICANN for you though. There is a reason why 95% of domain resellers are scum.
Too late, I already sent all my money to Nigeria.
Wasn't Laurence Rockefeller eaten by cannibals?
I know it would be horribly evil, but I wonder if there's a job market in China and Eastern Europe for Americans who can actually speak the English language to help make spam and phishing scams more convincing. It's the odd, stilted language structure that usually tips people off.
I have had some bad luck even with "legitimate" registrars. I got sick for a few months a couple years ago and, though I thought my domains were on "auto-renew", some of my parked names lapsed. Go Daddy held them hostage for hundreds of dollars each. At the time I could not afford them so they auctioned them off. Scumbags.
Please note that the blog this is linked to is an SEO spammer, who specifically mentions practices about bumping his own Google rankings up by having other blogs link to him.
Dear Mr Rockefeller,
Thank you for contacting me & I will be happy to send you the $$ you require to maintain my domain.
Before I can send you the money I will need for you to make a wire transfer via western union to ensure that you are in fact serious about maintaining my domain. This is just a deposit and $100 will work. I will refund it when I pay you for you services..
Thanks
Deleet
Whoa, it looks like Dr. Laurence Rockefeller studied Engrish at the HapySunshines Daytime All Day English School of English in Shenzhen.
Hahaha @ Barnaby!
I've gotten the same/similar email for at least one of my domains. I reported it to the FTC (useful for the Americans here on the board; the rest, figure out who it is in your country). Here's what they sent back (some personal details removed):
April 03, 2008
theredballoon
street address
city, state, zip
Re: FTC Ref. No. 1344XXXX
Dear theredballoon:
Thank you for recent correspondence. The Federal Trade Commission acts in the public interest to stop business practices that violate the laws it enforces. Letters from consumers and businesses are very important to the work of the Commission. They are often the first indication of a problem in the marketplace and may provide the initial evidence to begin an investigation. The Commission does not resolve individual complaints. The Commission can, however, act when it sees a pattern of possible violations developing.
The information you have provided will be recorded in our complaint retention system. This computerized system enables us to identify questionable business practices that are generating numerous complaints and may be in violation of the law.
Thank you for providing information that may be used to develop or support Commission enforcement initiatives.
Sincerely yours,
Consumer Response Center
The government of China obviously sanctions such criminal activity since it permits it. There is no question that if they wished to suppress it as they they do so many other things (including basic human rights), they certainly could. At what point does defacto econo-war constitute casus belli?
I wonder whether Dr. Laurence Rockefeller's from the same branch of the family as Clark Rockefeller.
I wonder whether Dr. Laurence Rockefeller's from the same branch of the family as Cinderella Rockefeller.
...I got one of those too. Now, if only I could send money to China to get www.om.com away from NASDAQ QMX - and they stole it from some pro-dopesmoking treehugging hippie group who registered it back in '97 - I'd be happy.
Okay, raise you hand if you want a T-shirt which reads:
Internet Brand Justice & Safety Dept.
I do! I do!
http://www.cafepress.com/marthamacarthur
This isn't really about other people taking away your domain, but about local Asian companies considering to register their local equivalent (like boingboing.cn) They are offering for you to cybersquat these asian domains to prevent confusion.
Of course this is a scam (my wife got this email as well). Just a bit smarter than you are making out. Apart from lying about the other companies, this may not even be illegal, assuming this is a real registrar.
Here's the email I got, minus the domain in question:
Dear CEO,
We are the domain name registration organization in Asia, which mainly deal with international company's in Asia. We have something important need to confirm with your company.
On the August 24,2008, we received an application formally. One company named "Huaxing International Venture Capital Holdings Ltd" wanted to register following Domain names:
xxxxxx.asia
xxxxxx.biz
xxxxxx.cc
xxxxxx.hk
xxxxxx.net.cn
xxxxxx.org
xxxxxx.tw
xxxxxx.us
Internet brand:
xxxxxx
through our body.
After our initial examination, we found that the Internet brand and domain names applied for registration are as same as your company's name and trademark. These days we are dealing with it. If you do not know this company, we doubt that they have other aims to buy these domain names. Now we have not finished the registration of Huarong company yet, in order to deal with this issue better, Please contact us by telephone or email as soon as possible.
Best Regards,
Crack Zhang
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Auditing Department
Tel: 00852 30593057
Fax: 00852 31771520
Email: crack@cnsknet.cn
Website: www.sknetservice.hk
Someone should report these guys to the Chinese fraud authorities, because (and I could be wrong about this) I suspect that, unlike Nigeria or other places where scams come out of, China won't stand for this sort of thing and will try to do something about it.
melamine anyone?
mmm, tastes like plastic.
When I get any type of e-mail from a .cn domain, it goes straight into the trash unopened and unread. Unless you have friends or family there, I'd recommend you do the same.
While working for a company that built corporate websites, we probably got at least one or two panicked calls a day about this very email. It's amazing how many people are still so very un-savvy about the internet.