SPAM SCAMS..

  
I received an odd email in my inbox today.  Someone from the other side of the world was looking out for my interests and protecting my company name from being trademark registered in China!  How cool, a stranger is helping me for free!

As Milton Friedman once said though, there's no such thing as a free lunch..

So, I investigated a little further.

Turns out to be another scam email - effectively drumming up trade for a chinese domain name registration business.  Along the lines of, "hey! someone is trying to register the following domain name endings with your existing domain name..."

.jp

.net

.eu

.cn

.tw

.cc

.biz

You get the idea.

All very alarming.  If only they were using correct English grammar and it didn't simply read like some joke.  I guess someone somewhere falls for this as it's been going round the internet for at least 2 years now - for e.g.

In case it happens to you, look out for an email that goes something like this..

Dear  Principal,                                      

We are an organization specified at dealing with domain name dispute and
registration in Asia. We have something important on intellectual
property right need to confirm with your company.

Today we received a formal application from a company called Emarketplace
International, who applied to register "[insert your domain here - Polko]"
as their domain name in some countries and internet keyword.
During our preliminary investigation, we found that these domain names'
keyword is identical with your trademark. I wonder whether you consigned
Emarketplace International to register these domain names with us? Or is
Emarketplace International your business partner or distributor in Asia?

Currently, we have already postponed this application of this company
temporarily. Therefore please let the relevant person make a confirmation
with me by telephone or email ASAP.

Best Regards
Henry Luo
Auditing Department(HK Office)