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I was wondering if anyone has encountered this before and knows whether or not it's legitimate.

A domain registrar - e-int.cn - has just contacted me. They claim that another party is attempting to register domains for our company name and are asking for us to authorise or deny this registration request.

We currently own the .co.uk, .com, .de, and .uk domains.

My question is, is this legitimate? Is there legislation that exists that requires registrars to check with a registered company whether to release domain names?

Or is it a scam, and if so what could they possibly gain from me replying?

ryansin
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    Same question, different site: http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/56290/is-this-domain-registration-service-email-a-scam –  Feb 28 '17 at 20:07

1 Answers1

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This is a known "scam".

This is a legitimate, though questionable approach. Big chance there isn't actually anyone trying to register it, they just tell you that to add time pressure. They do nothing wrong with offering it to (and if they're not offering it now, they will be in their follow up mail).
They often simply do [your_domain].[some less common extention] via an automated process.

They're trying to scare people into buying the domains. We've encountered this a few times ourselves, that a client of ours will call us to say that someone has offered them the same as you've been offered. They're often slightly panicked that someone might 'steal their domain'. We then explain that they're hoping you panic and buy the domain(s). Sometimes acting all 'friendly' that they wanted to inform you first.

The question you must ask yourself: Is this a domain I'd like to have?
- If so, register it yourself (or via your host) because they haven't actually registered it for you
- If not -> ignore them.

Martijn
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  • They haven't offered me anything - simply stating that someone else is trying to register it and asking us to authorise or reject the request. – ryansin Feb 28 '17 at 15:43
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    They haven't offered you anything yet. They will :) – Martijn Feb 28 '17 at 15:46
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    Looks like you're right - I just found this http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/spot-chinese-domain-name-scam/ – ryansin Feb 28 '17 at 16:11
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    @Sinfieldd Rejecting the request will involve a fee of some sort - "legal filings" - or a "verification" of your business that involves some sort of identity theft or financial data like bank numbers. Definite scam. – ceejayoz Feb 28 '17 at 19:44
  • @ceejayoz Or, more commonly, the registrar will insist that you register the domains yourself. (Through them, of course.) –  Feb 28 '17 at 22:06
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    This is featured at the side of StackOverflow. I'm glad I read this just in case I receive similar – Nick Cardoso Feb 28 '17 at 22:27