Is this some sort of scam?

[Xanifur]

I got this e-mail today:

Dear Product Sourcing

We are Beijing Onvis Network Information Technology Co.,Ltd, which is the domain name register center in China. We received a formal application from a company who is called ShengBan Investment(China) Co.,Ltd are applying to register"productsourcingmethods"as their domain name and Internet keyword on JAN.7th 2008. Because this involved your company name or trade marks so we inform you in no time. If you considered these domain names and internet keywords are important to you and there was necessary to protect them by registering them first, contact us soon.

Kind Regards,

Tony.Zhang

Tel:+86-10-82476192-606

Fax:+86-10-62477798

Email:tony.zhang@onvis.com.cn

Beijing Onvis Network Information Technology Co.,Ltd

BEIJING ONVIS NETWORK INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO, LTD

BEIJING ONVIS NETWORK INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CO, LTD

2008-01-08
tony.zhang

Is this a scam? Are they trying to get my domain name... or what? If a name is taken -- it's taken unless I want to sell it. Anyone ever get one of these?

I've been getting so much crap from china I just ignore it.

[I-c-da$]

SCAM :P sounds like a scam....

[XEROcorp]

yes, 100%. If its fishy or too good always assume spam. always..

[vinjer]

I actually don't understand what they want.

[Xanifur]

I actually don't understand what they want.

Me either. Something about someone wants to buy a productsourcingmethods.com.cn domain or something... but they can't because I own it. I don't get it. Why would they contact me about that?

[BM_ag02]

I vote scam, I don't see how you can trust anything from China these days; it’s either a scam or painted with enough lead paint to gag a donkey.

[pentupentropy]

if you ever have a question regarding the legality of any domain issues, you can always refer to the ICANN website. ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers

These guys hold the registrars for most every TLD you come across, but not all of them.

I'm not sure what china's policy on domains is, but I know that ICANN could not possibly control them. The email looks like a hoax and for more in depth checking, go to google groups Google Groups or just go to google and look up this sort of issue with .cn's I can't see how this could be real but if you need to check there are your sources.

[GriZzly]

Doesn't sound like a scam to me, sounds like cold-calling. If you notice they actually didn't mention the TLD extension, i.e. .com/.info/.biz etc

It is basically a domain registration company fishing for sales after getting your contact details from whois and offering you other .TLD extensions to your current domain name.

As for this third party that is trying to register these domains, that is just a ploy to coerce you into buying up all the domains quickly, I highly doubt anyone is trying.

[pentupentropy]

good point. either way, I would disregard it. After reading griz's post, I would tend to agree.

[sicnarftea]

Regardless, I would stay away from such offers. Chances are its an automated program that gets whois data and starts email spaming the owners to get a sale. Not a long term business hence you not really reliable.

[Xanifur]

I get it now. They are just trying to "warn" me that someone is trying to buy related keywords and stuff... so they want me to register more.. with them... Haha.

[rogercbryan]

ask them how much they are willing to pay... they can't steal anything from you.. give it a try

[bittermang]

We received one of these emails at our company, and our boss replied to it. Promptly breaking step one of basic email security.

Anyway, they sent back a reply, informing us that they could register the .cn, .com.cn, .net.cn, .org.cn, .hk, .tw, and .com.tw variants of our preexisting .com address. This information coupled with Grizzly's post above would suggest that this is less of a scam and more of a cold call. A very cold call full of broken Engrish.

They also attached a word doc entitled "keyword introduce.doc" It did not appear to be a virus, just more cold Engrish marketing.

Best bet is to ignore it completely.

[crackah]

100% scam.

[edwardhalim]

I think it's a scam.