And yet another Scam - watch out for this one

This is the first time I have seen this particular variation, but it's pretty common. You get a letter or email from a company telling you about dire consequences of some abnormality or problem with your domain name. Domain Registry of America is notorious for this. Network Solutions tries it from time to time, often in relation to your SSL security certificate. In this iteration it looks especially scary, because there are legitimate reasons to protect variations to your domain name.

There are a few advantages to buying extra domain names.

1. Nobody else can use them to siphon customers that should be finding you.
2. You can use them for additional sites in a strategy that may help you get more traffic.
3. You can control your branding better.
4. It's a good investment. It doesn't cost much to buy them and keep them; compared to trying to buy them from a speculator. If you quit the business, someone else may buy them from you at a premium price.

Why do you care if someone owns some variation of your name? You might want to use them later and someone else will own them. Or they will put up phony sites and take advantage of your marketing efforts by creating confusion. Imagine you're using xxxx.net, and a porno site has xxxx.com. Or an actual competitor of yours has the name.

They may be name speculators, or a legitimate business may own them for legitimate reasons. Either way you won't be able to use them without negotiating with the registrant. You may never get to use them.

However if you put some thought into your web marketing before you start, you can purchase them by going to webeddy.com and searching for them with the search tool on the home page, and then purchasing them directly online. Which is definitely easier and probably a lot safer, since you will not be sharing your payment info with anyone in China. Anytime you think of a name you want, go get it. It's not that expensive and it's better to control it than try to get control of it.

This Chinese company is trying to get you to buy these out of fear of losing them and preying on ignorance. There is no need to buy them at all if you can't see a future use for them. This company is NOT  part of any official group. If these domains are available you can buy them yourself with your webeddy account.

Just go to the webeddy.com home page and use the search form to search for and purchase the domains you want. I recommend you think about various permutations of your domain that you might like to keep from the competition. Also think about how you might be able to use additional domains for future marketing, and buy them directly over the web. If you get any emails similar to the following, don't respond. If you feel you need the domains protected, buy them directly.

From: "liz" < This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it >
To: "kencoughlin" <kencn@xxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 9:41:58 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: RE: Regarding " xxxxxx" Intellectual property rights.(TO CEO)
Dear CEO,      

We are a domain name registrar centre in HongKong,in charge of the registeration in Asia,and the parnter of Shanghai 2010 World Expo.We have something important need to confirm through your company. We received a formal application from a company called "Colerst Investments Ltd" applying to register
Internet Keyword :     xxxxxx
Domain names :
xxxxxx.asia
xxxxxx.cn
xxxxxx.hk
xxxxxx.in
xxxxxx.tw
xxxxxx.us
In China and also in Asia on January.19. 2010. During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged "Colerst Investments Ltd" has no trade mark,Intellectual property, nor patent even similar to that word. As authorized anti-cybersquatting organization we hereby suspect the alleged "Colerst Investments Ltd" to be a domain grabber. Hence we need you confirmation for two things:

First of all, whether this alleged "Colerst Investments Ltd" is your business partner or distributor in China.
Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains. (The alleged "Colerst Investments 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.in order to deal with this issue better, please let someone who is responsible for trademark or domain name contact me as soon as possible.

Best Regards

Liz.Li

Auditing  Manager

International Registration(Auditing) Dept.
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Hong Kong Head Office:
Tel: +852-956-60205
Fax:+852-307-17730
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Web: http://www.sk-dns.org 
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Confidentiality Notice: 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.we have to notify you,and our registration organization are not responsible for any dispute questions about trade mark,intellectual property nor patent after they succeed in registration.hope you can understand.thank you.
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