Missing Question April 12, 2010 3:55 AM Subscribe
trying to find an ask metafilter post about being contacted by a domain registrar claiming someone is trying to register domains involving the trademarks of the recipient of the message.
I don't want to ask a question that has been asked before since I'm pretty sure this question asked was pretty much identical but I can't seem to find it.
Does anyone remember it? Maybe you have it bookmarked or maybe it was your question?
My mum got an email through her website and she just emailed me to as what she should do about it
"Dear CEO & Manager,
We are a Global Domain Name Registration Centre in Hong Kong . Mainly dealing with domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection. On April 09,2010 we received a formal application from a company who is applying to register several domains, using “mumsname” as the keyword. After investigation,we find that you are the original user of the keyword. Such similar domain cases may involve your trademark and company name,and may cause website confusion and conflicts. For a responsible attitude, we inform you here and ask for your opinion. If you don't mind,we will finish registration for the third company."
My first reaction was to mail her back and tell her to ignore it, its a scam but tbh, I'm not sure how its a scam, just that I'm 99.9% sure it is and I remember it had been asked about before and thought there might be some insights/more information I could give her in that thread.
I don't want to ask a question that has been asked before since I'm pretty sure this question asked was pretty much identical but I can't seem to find it.
Does anyone remember it? Maybe you have it bookmarked or maybe it was your question?
My mum got an email through her website and she just emailed me to as what she should do about it
"Dear CEO & Manager,
We are a Global Domain Name Registration Centre in Hong Kong . Mainly dealing with domain name registration and internet intellectual property rights protection. On April 09,2010 we received a formal application from a company who is applying to register several domains, using “mumsname” as the keyword. After investigation,we find that you are the original user of the keyword. Such similar domain cases may involve your trademark and company name,and may cause website confusion and conflicts. For a responsible attitude, we inform you here and ask for your opinion. If you don't mind,we will finish registration for the third company."
My first reaction was to mail her back and tell her to ignore it, its a scam but tbh, I'm not sure how its a scam, just that I'm 99.9% sure it is and I remember it had been asked about before and thought there might be some insights/more information I could give her in that thread.
Cheers.
posted by missmagenta at 4:24 AM on April 12, 2010
posted by missmagenta at 4:24 AM on April 12, 2010
OK, I'm going to go ahead and... Oh, wait, we're not supposed to say that anymore.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:31 AM on April 12, 2010
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:31 AM on April 12, 2010
masturbate?
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:43 AM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:43 AM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]
An obnoxious scam. It's a scam because the "applicant" attempting to register the foreign domain extensions does not exist, but was fabricated to scare your mother into preemptively buying Asian domains that she almost certainly does not need.
posted by applemeat at 4:55 AM on April 12, 2010
posted by applemeat at 4:55 AM on April 12, 2010
You definitely don't want to buy Asian domains. They'll eventually get loose, breed wildly, clog the local internet tubes and endanger local species.
posted by DU at 5:04 AM on April 12, 2010
posted by DU at 5:04 AM on April 12, 2010
It's a scam (or a sleazy sales trick, at least) in which they wish to sell you more domains with Asian extensions. They are approaching you by guessing you would care, based on the domain(s) you already appear to own.
Basically, it's the used car salesman's trick, where if you don't seem interested enough, he tells you that just this morning a nice couple came asking about this, which happens to be the last model we have left on the lot, so if you do not act right away and sign here you might lose this valuable opportunity.
Sound about right?
posted by rokusan at 6:24 AM on April 12, 2010
Basically, it's the used car salesman's trick, where if you don't seem interested enough, he tells you that just this morning a nice couple came asking about this, which happens to be the last model we have left on the lot, so if you do not act right away and sign here you might lose this valuable opportunity.
Sound about right?
posted by rokusan at 6:24 AM on April 12, 2010
Sound about right?
Sort of. But this is sleazier because car salesmen do (or at least can) see other customers on the lot, whereas nobody "applies for" a domain registration or has said "application" "reviewed."
posted by applemeat at 6:34 AM on April 12, 2010
Sort of. But this is sleazier because car salesmen do (or at least can) see other customers on the lot, whereas nobody "applies for" a domain registration or has said "application" "reviewed."
posted by applemeat at 6:34 AM on April 12, 2010
This is a scam run by unethical registrars and the advice above is good, but, if I could add a small qualification to those answers: China has over a billion potential Internet users. If your Mum plans to do business in China, it might be worthwhile to reserve a Chinese domain name or "keyword" she would most likely use in China. There are non-ASCII character search engines, websites and domain name registries and, rather than typing "mumsname" into a browser to find her product or services, a person in China might type in the equivalent Chinese character. Unless she has a "keyword" registration for the Chinese character that is equivalent to the English language word, they might not find her website. But do use a reputable registrar to do it.
posted by IanMorr at 11:16 AM on April 12, 2010
posted by IanMorr at 11:16 AM on April 12, 2010
Applemeat's point is salty... the stretching of truth here gets even longer and thinner than in my example.
posted by rokusan at 11:25 AM on April 12, 2010
posted by rokusan at 11:25 AM on April 12, 2010
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posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:21 AM on April 12, 2010 [1 favorite]