NEED ADVICE URGENT! IS This A Scam?!

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Fellow warrior, I need some advice and information please.

I've just received an email from someone I have no contact with, which seems very strange.

I'm wondering if anyone else has had something similar.
My gut feeling tells me it is a domain company touting for business but it makes sense to know for sure.

This Is The Email Message:

=======================================

2010/10/29 Maxime Wei <maxime@netdrc.org>
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward to the right person/ department, as this is urgent, thank you.)

Dear CEO,

We are the department of registration service in China. we have something which needs to confirm with you. We formally received an application on Oct., 28th, 2010, One company called "Soloun Trading Limited" is applying to register " honest-homebusiness" as brand name and domain names as below :


honest-homebusiness.asia
honest-homebusiness.cn
honest-homebusiness.com.cn
honest-homebusiness.com.hk
honest-homebusiness.com.tw
honest-homebusiness.hk
honest-homebusiness.in
honest-homebusiness.tw

After our initial checking, we found the brand name and domain names being applied are as same as your company! So we need confirmation with your company. If the aforementioned company is your business partner or your subsidiary, please DO NOT reply us, we will approve the application automatically. If you don't have any relationship with this company, please contact us within 7 workdays. If over the deadline, we will approve the application submitted by "Soloun Trading Limited" unconditionally.

Best Regards,

Maxime Wei

Senior Consultant

====================================

I've done the obvious search for the name of the company and no real information available.

What do you think warrior. Seen anything like this before?

Any advice or information you may have that can shine some light on this would be good please.

My return email basically said that it's nothing to do with me, and that at the end of the day there just domain names, and of no real concern to me.

Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.
Sincerely,
John Adams
  • Profile picture of the author Amicus
    May be this person make you fool so don't waste your time to read that type of mails and i also got that type of mails every day.
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  • Profile picture of the author derekwong28
    I received a similar message before and replied. They replied just stating what they said in the letter again. They did not ask for any money and I have not heard from them since then.

    I think the reason for their letter is that you have registered the .com version and they want to assess whether you may take legal action against them later on.

    Derek
    Signature

    Do not get between a wombat and a chocolate biscuit; you will regret it dearly!

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  • Profile picture of the author youallnome
    The initial email came from China.
    Maybe the registration laws are different out there?

    I was never concerned. The .com site I own couldn't be over taken by anyone. It pretty much dominates for the main 10 keywords.

    But it always makes sense to check and confirm with fellow professionals.
    Thanks

    John
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    China, and the culture, is NOTORIOUS for ******NOT****** caring about such things. That ALONE makes the email suspicious!

    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author Orkhan Ibad
      Anyone who is online for some time knows that this is not legal. They get my mass deletion.

      Orkhan
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Orkhan Azer View Post

        Anyone who is online for some time knows that this is not legal. They get my mass deletion.

        Orkhan
        ****HOW**** do you figure!?!?!? Technically, it is ILLEGAL to trademark such a term, common words. ALSO, registering does NOT instantly convey a trademark. ALSO, it is NOT their job to check trademarks and, to the best of my knowledge, there is NO way to do so! AND, even if it WERE a KNOWN trademark, CHINA ****DOES NOT CARE****! So I don't get the meaning of your statement.

        Steve
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        • Profile picture of the author Freeman A
          [DELETED]
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          • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
            They're just hoping you will panic into emailing back and saying you want to buy all those domains as well as the one you have already bought. Then they will ask a suitably high fee.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    I got a few of those. My solution was to just email back to them saying "thank you for the notification - I have forwarded it to the proper authorities."

    Never heard back from them, LOL.
    Signature

    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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    • Profile picture of the author Kay King
      We are the department of registration service in China.
      Ok - if you aren't living in China....that's a clue.

      It's a scam attempt to get you to register domains through them. A/K/A - "spam"

      kay
      Signature
      Saving one dog will not change the world - but the world changes forever for that one dog
      ***
      My ducks are absolutely not in a row. I don't even know where some of them are...
      ...and I'm pretty sure one of them is a pigeon.
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  • Profile picture of the author youallnome
    Some great feed back, and some not so great!

    Thanks for all the feed back and ideas:

    Originally Posted by Orkhan Azer
    Anyone who is online for some time knows that this is not legal. They get my mass deletion.
    Orkhan

    Reply to Orkhan
    ****HOW**** do you figure!?!?!? Technically, it is ILLEGAL to trademark such a term, common words. ALSO, registering does NOT instantly convey a trademark. ALSO, it is NOT their job to check trademarks and, to the best of my knowledge, there is NO way to do so! AND, even if it WERE a KNOWN trademark, CHINA ****DOES NOT CARE****! So I don't get the meaning of your statement.

    Steve

    ============

    I agree with you Steve. We are on the same thinking level. Thank you for that.

    Orkhan. I've been online since 2003 and if there is one thing I've learnt is that nothing is obvious. For me, this is the first type of email to arrive at my inbox.

    I knew it was not right and some kind of scam (trying to get me to purchase something), which is exactly what I said in my very brief return email to them.

    Ask a stupid question once... comes to mind with this one!

    Thank's also to HeySal. Great advice.

    Always good to share the things you are not sure about.

    John
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    • Profile picture of the author Orkhan Ibad
      I mean if you think something is too good to be true, then delete it.

      Steve,

      BTW, I didn't even understand the meaning of your statement either. It seems we are talking different things.

      Orkhan

      Originally Posted by youallnome View Post

      Some great feed back, and some not so great!

      Thanks for all the feed back and ideas:

      Originally Posted by Orkhan Azer
      Anyone who is online for some time knows that this is not legal. They get my mass deletion.
      Orkhan

      Reply to Orkhan
      ****HOW**** do you figure!?!?!? Technically, it is ILLEGAL to trademark such a term, common words. ALSO, registering does NOT instantly convey a trademark. ALSO, it is NOT their job to check trademarks and, to the best of my knowledge, there is NO way to do so! AND, even if it WERE a KNOWN trademark, CHINA ****DOES NOT CARE****! So I don't get the meaning of your statement.

      Steve

      ============

      I agree with you Steve. We are on the same thinking level. Thank you for that.

      Orkhan. I've been online since 2003 and if there is one thing I've learnt is that nothing is obvious. For me, this is the first type of email to arrive at my inbox.

      I knew it was not right and some kind of scam (trying to get me to purchase something), which is exactly what I said in my very brief return email to them.

      Ask a stupid question once... comes to mind with this one!

      Thank's also to HeySal. Great advice.

      Always good to share the things you are not sure about.

      John
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  • Profile picture of the author mahdiyah
    Its Obviously a scam
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  • Profile picture of the author bradmarcus1
    Hello John. Yes, it probably is a scam. Your instincts are right. Don't reply back.

    To Your Success,
    Brad Marcus
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    • Profile picture of the author shopbic
      John, I haven't gotten that email, however, I keep getting letters (snail mail) from a company called "Domain Registry of America" that tell me my domains are about to expire and to pay them $50 and they will renew them for me. Anyone that has been around a little while knows that you can renew you own domain names through the registrar that you purchased them with for $8 to $12 dollars.
      I guess that some people just try to make a fast buck from unknowing people.
      Sad...
      Phil
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      • Profile picture of the author youallnome
        Hi Phil

        Domain Registry of America do a lot of that stuff. Every year I get a nice letter though the post telling me the same.

        Thats just a business trying to steal you as a customer. Competition is good for the soul, they say!

        Thanks.

        Originally Posted by shopbic View Post

        John, I haven't gotten that email, however, I keep getting letters (snail mail) from a company called "Domain Registry of America" that tell me my domains are about to expire and to pay them $50 and they will renew them for me. Anyone that has been around a little while knows that you can renew you own domain names through the registrar that you purchased them with for $8 to $12 dollars.
        I guess that some people just try to make a fast buck from unknowing people.
        Sad...
        Phil
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  • Profile picture of the author wickedsubmit
    i received 4 to 5 this type of mail regularly
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  • Profile picture of the author syedmahtab
    Hi brother,

    There are two possible reasons behind the email.

    One that has been pointed out many times in previous replies that the company might be wanting you to purchase their mentioned domains.

    But there is yet another possible reason behind. There are many people out there who harvest emails for a particular niche. Once collected, they use such tactics to confirm those email address. Once confirmed, they are used for marketing purposes.

    Which of the two be the reasons; one way is there to avoid. That is simply ignore and do not even reply.

    Hope the whole situation is clear now.
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  • Profile picture of the author DeborahDera
    Don't feel bad or concerned. It's definitely a scam.

    I get those. I am a massage therapist and my email address is online for that as well. I also get emails from people claiming to be massage therapists in other countries. They tell me they have clients visiting the USA and they've been referred to me by (usually someone I don't know). They want to make arrangements for their clients to see me while they're in the country. Usually from there it'll turn into them wanting to send me a money order... can I give her part back in cash... etc, etc.

    Fun on the web.
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