Was this an internet domain name renewal scam? I shared my expertise and you examined it yourself.
I just received this email titled ‘Internet Trademark Protect’ claiming that one of my domain names was going to be trademarked by a company call DERUI Investment and I was asked if I objected to the third party application claim. I started to get worried and troubled if my domain name would be revoked.
Then I read the email again and I began to doubt because I spotted simple grammar and syntax errors like ‘asia’ is spelt ‘ASIA’ and the date is typed ‘February,2nd,2010’. The ending signature was really done unprofessionally. If a big company was big enough to buy up all the variant domain names and trademarked it, then they would get a decent representative to handle such matter and the representative would unlikely sign off so mildly.
The 2 giveaways were the contact ‘Tel:+86(0)21 6296 2950’ and the website link ‘web:www.ygnetwork.cn’. If it was a China based company, unlikely they would put the plus sign (+) and the bracketed zero. A typical Chinese company would put the contact in this format, (021) 1234 5678. Obviously, the sender was targeting non China resident to call into China. The website was not hyperlinked and used the word ‘web:’ which was not what a typical Chinese company would do. Not hyperlinked mean it was deliberately unlink, then why still typed in the web address.
I did a whois on the domain name ygnetwork.cn and ygnetwork.org.cn and traced it. The whois information were messy. Then I quickly checked the email header and the email address Angela@ygnetwork.org.cn could not be validated. It was interesting to note that the A in the Angela@ was capitalised.
Finally I went over to view the website. First thing, I scrolled all the way down to the footer to look for the ICP licence. The ICP licence was not displayed. No ICP licence number on the website means it was not registered with the local authority that the company was registered and this was violating China internet regulations. In simple English, it was illegal and law breaking. How could a company that claimed to be a domain name registration and bearing the .cn without displaying ICP licence. This was the greatest giveaway that it was a scam.
There were many things I could still checked and exposed if it was a domain name renewal scam like, the phone numbers used on the website was it a mobile number that faked a land line number. I could also check the directory to validate the occupant of the address and so forth but I need not anymore because the ICP number missing from the website was sufficient for me to pass the judgement.
If you went to the contact page, you could find the Beijing and Hongkong share a similar address. If you were familiar with Hangzhou, you would easily spot that the address was wrong. Lastly, how could a .cn website not available in Chinese language.
The whole setup had a lot scam elements. An invalid email address that you cannot reply but to make a call to one of their numbers. A scammer always preferred a phone call than email conversation because it was not traceable. A lot of cannot-make-sense credentials to valid the website legitimacy. Contact numbers displayed in a uniformed format that made it easy for it potential targets to make the initial call.
A domain name renewal scam or a real legitimate business, you decided?
Below was the content I received in my email.
Dear Manager:
We are a Domain Name registration service company, which is a professional Internet Domain Name Registration and dispute resolution organization in China.On February,2nd,2010, We received DERUI Investment company’s application that they are registering the name “mydomain” as their Internet Trademark and “mydomain.cn”,”mydomain.com.cn” ,”mydomain.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you! Looking forward to your reply. Kind regards
Angela
———————————–
Oversea marketing manager
Tel:+86(0)21 6296 2950
Fax:+86(0)21 6296 1557
web:www.ygnetwork.cn
Comments
308 responses to “Domain Name Renewal Scam From China?”
Thanks for the posting! I received the exact email, and came across your posting when I googled the “web:www.ygnetwork.cn”
here is a copy:
Cheers! I am glad you are alerted too!
We just got one of these exact same emails today in Perth WA so I did a search and came up with your useful page!!! Thank you very much for confirming my thoughts!!! I was suspicious about it. Thank you for taking the trouble to post your thoughts etc..
Here tis:
Thank You! We thought that it was serious! Luckily we came across your site!
Thanks!
Hi Alex, I am glad to hear from you and we are all safe from the scam!
Just got this about 30 mins ago. Seemed really odd, glad I did some checking around. Thanks for the valuable information.
I am glad you found my information valuable.
I got one also. Maybe it should go to the FBI to investigate potential fraud. http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx
Ha ha! Is a cross border scam. Moreover is route into China. too much investigation work but we are smart enough to handle it.
i received one of these not knowing it was a scam and have made the payment – what do i do now??
How much have you paid? I believe the scammer next move is to extort more money from you by creating more administrative burdens and overheads that require more money to solve it.
My suggestion is, let it go and cut your losses now.
Stay cool!
Got the same just now. Anyway we could somehow scambait them like the guys at the 419 scambaiting forums are doing with the Nigerians?
Ha! Ha! If you do start a scam baiting site or forum, let me know. Stay cool!
I give some of the current text of the emails I received which is the same during a certain period of time:
Seem like the scam is mutating. Glad you give us a head up of the new variation. Thanks!
Thay send me exactly the same mail.
I thought it could be serious. But thank you for taking the time to post this issue. There are allways people they believe smart.
But here we foud a smarter one.
Thank you. I almost felt.
Regards
Marcelo Sher
Yeah! We are all smart people!
Stay cool!
Same here we have been sent a number of emails today. Thought it was odd now thnaks to you guys you have saved me
Good to hear from you and feel good that you are safe! Stay cool!
We got this same thing where I work, good to know its a scam. Cheers for the info.
Cheers! Good to hear from you!
Hi Guys
Great post and yes we received not ONE but SIX of these all using our different email addresses.
100% Scam in our opinion – did not respond – did not want to.
Ha Ha! Six same emails to six different email address? What a low cost scam!
Thanks so much for the post! Almost had me there. :S
Glad you are alerted! Stay cool!
thanks for the useful info.
we got the same one last week. thanks!
Good to hear from you! Stay cool!
This is the one I got today 21/08/2010..
Dear Manager,
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On August,20th,2010, We received HUATAI Company’s application that they are registering the name “medcaps” as their Internet Trademark and “medcaps.cn”,”medcaps.com.cn” ,”medcaps.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Angela Zhang
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Office: +86 216296 2950
Fax: +86 216296 1557
web: yg-networks.com
web: yg-networks.com
Thanks for your notice! Cheers!
I received the email today from Ygnetworks.
And you know you are safe! Stay cool!
Yep, me too.
Was strongly sus on it so I googled it. That’s how I came across you guys. I recieve a lot of scams, but this one’s different and I could see how someone could be tricked. Sorry to hear that someone lost money. 🙁 Keep up the good work on this site. Very helpful for people.
Good to hear from you and glad all is well on your side! Cheers!
I received the same email 3 days ago. The same chinese company (HUATAI) who was interested in the previous blogger’s medcaps.com domain name was also interested in copying my domain name, FunDecorForKids.com. Obviously, we are in completely different business markets. The chinese could be legitimately buying these domains to sell to chinese companies that may want to compete with us, or they could be hoping to scare us into buying them back at huge profits.
I am not going to pay for those domain fees, but if anyone does decide to pay, I would strongly recommend using a credit card. As soon as the charges are recorded on the credit card I would immediately call the credit card company and have the card replaced with a new one. I have heard plenty of reports of the Chinese getting credit card numbers and making fraudulent transactions with them.
I don’t think scammer will accept credit card. Their favourite channel is Western Union. All you need is a verbal password to receive $$$.
The Chinese you refer to are actually Taiwanese. In China, if you get caught for credit card fraud, you face a firing squad.
got the same today, and my other company also recieved one too with exactily the same BS and was still addressed to me at first company….
They sent exactily the same email as you got months ago,
I simply told them to suck sh#!……and told them to get a real job you F@#$en idiot.
surprise surprise…..no reply ! ! ! although last time they sent it a few months back after i replyed showing concern, i recieved a reply telling me i should buy them before the other company did……
SO their memory isnt too shit hot either,
YES PEOPLE……ITS TRUELY A SCAM TOO……
David M ………………..the little aussie battler
Relax! You are safe from their BS!
I got the email this morning. I was thinking it was a scam but wanted to make sure. I Googled “angela zhang registration department manager”, and your site came up 4#.
Thank you very much for this information.
You are always welcome!
I got this as well and replied. They did not ask for money upon responding but did tell me that a company was going to use my name. I have responded a very stern reply and told them my company attorney will be in touch. I am turning the matter over to him on Tuesday. I am glad to know this is a scam, but it pissed me off and I want to know more. He will take the matter up when he returns to work. Time to earn the retainer I pay him monthly!!
Ha Ha Ha! Interesting way of handling the matter. Good to know you are in good hands!
Funny, I got the same e-mail tonight regarding one of my clients’ websites. I had caught a hacker targeting the same site in the letter. I figured its him trying to register the domain. I goggled the name and got this tread. When he hacked into the site he left enough traces for me to log into his e-mail accounts. That also led me to his PayPal accounts. What I discovered was that he was hacking into e-commerce sites and adding him self as the recipient to the sales e-mail notification. also he was disabling the payment processing gateway and linking it to his PayPla account.
He had 1000s of e-mails that had people’s names, address and of course credit card info. He mostly got the CC info from the free shopping cart software found on the net, ex. Zen Cart was the most popular one in the list.
He hacked into my software via a virus on my client’s break room machine (used by all employees to check personal e-mails, lol). One of the admins used it once and that is how the hacker got in. Once he was in, he changed information on the server so that his PayPal account would receive the funds and not the authorized.net gateway.
The point is that if you are using a free software that is on the net, then mostly you where hacked, and the hacker tried to add your domain to this list of e-mail spams. Check and see if your system is safe and no funny activity is happening. check your admin settings, change password, and look for files that should not be on the server.
regards,
Hi Johnny, This is scary! Thanks for the warning! I am glad my web server is protected by sentry protection. So if any changes make to my files or added to it, it will send me a notification. Perhaps your provider already have such feature. Check with your host provider.
Thank you for this excellent article. I was just about to respond to them and sell my domain at US$100K. Chinese companies are super rich now and buy properties all over the world with hard cash.
Good to hear from you and glad that you enjoy reading this article!
Got the same email to my company in Sweden so thanks for letting me know!
You are always welcome! Cheers!
We’ve also just been targetted! Thx for posting the warning. You’ve saved us a lot of trouble!
You are welcome! That’s my purpose of publishing this article.
Thank you for your article. It help me out so much, now I can alert all my contacts. Have a great day.
I am glad you find the information useful!
Just received the same email today, however phone numbers appear to have changed.
Did a search on the name and ended up here. Really am sick of all these scam artists floating around the web
Regards
D
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On October,7th,2010, We received HUAXIA Company’s application that they are registering the name “********” as their Internet Trademark and “****************************************”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Email: info(at)yg-networks.com
Anhui Office
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: yg-networks.com
How I wish these scammers can devote their time to do something more creative to save the earth.
Just recieved this one, thanks for the heads up that it;s a scam…
From: Angela (overseas(at)yg-networks.com)
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On October,8th,2010, We received HUAXIA Company’s application that they are registering the name “babyblossom” as their Internet Trademark and “babyblossom.cn”,”babyblossom.com.cn” ,”babyblossom.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Email: info(at)yg-networks.com
Anhui Office
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: yg-networks.com
web: hwww,yg-networks.com
Good to hear from you and glad that you are safe from them!
I just had the same email, I replied saying I was very grateful for the information. I have companies in the Uk who have been using my company name on their websites as product catagories, pages titles, links etc
It’s not just the scammers that are a problem, it’s so called legitimate businesses who feel the needs to spam the search engines and steal identities to further their business.
I’ve contacted them and asked them not to do this and their excuse is that the name glowgadgets is a genuine term for their products. Thing is I created the term over 10 years ago and it was never used anywhere on the net until I came up with it. Now they treat it like a name for all glow gadgets.
The joke is on them though, when people search for glow gadgets, who do they find in the first 6 urls
This is cool! I like your story! If I am you, I will sell cash out the URLs. Cheers!
But my website.
I quite agree with the last poster who says they should do something worthwhile with their time, it seems it’s just to easy to rip people off instead of coming up with their own ideas.
Thanks for the opportunity to learn I’m not the only one and I’ll let you know what they come back with.
Sorry I split my post, easy to hit publish on the iPhone.
Best wishes
Doc
Keep up the good work! Great to hear story like yours and how you defend your intellectual properties.
I got the same email and first thing come up to my mind was that this is got to be fake. This is cannot be real, because first of all the our domain name is such a way that why someone wanted to use that in China. Come on get real. Bellow text whic was in email. Seems like they like to keep changing some info, other then that everything was same as other email few months ago.
Dear Manager,
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On October,25th,2010, We received HUAXIA Company’s application that they are registering the name “***************” as their Internet Trademark and “***************” “****************.com.cn” ,”*****************.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Email: info@yg-networks.com
Anhui Office
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: http://yg-networks.com
web: http://www.yg-networks.com
Smart scam but not smart enough!
Just Interesting info about the company name they used in email which I received who is interested in using our domain name, hahahah. HUAXIA. First I search for this name and come across this Wiki link. You can take a look at yourself and be a judge. Hahaha
HUAXIA – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaxia
Please post your thoughts.
Huaxia is a commonly used term among the chinese. Nothing unique on it!
Thanks to all. I received this nearly identical email below:
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On October,25th,2010, We received HUAXIA Company’s application that they are registering the name “cruisemart” as their Internet Trademark and “cruisemart.cn”,”cruisemart.com.cn” ,”cruisemart.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Email:info@yg-networks.com
Anhui Office
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web:www.ygnetwork.org
Thank you to everyone for your posts.
I’d like to add my thanks to those of the others, for taking that trouble and finding out. I was also a bit suspicuous, bu one never knows… Keep up the good work!
Thanks! Stay cool!
My very sick brother got a copy of this same e-mail and asked me to find out about it. Naturally, on top of the worry about his illness, he was very concerned that his business site was in jeopardy. thank you for this info. It saved my mental state and also my sick brother’s, the business owner.
I am glad you found my information useful to you. Cheers!
Thanks! I Just received the same email. Firstly, I search on Google and I found search term that Google suggest yg network scam so I came in your blog.
Thanks again for your opinion , good analysis and warning this email scam.
————————–
Detail of email that I received;
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On November,4th,2010, We received HUAXIA Company’s application that they are registering the name “example” as their Internet Trademark and “example.cn”,”example.com.cn” ,”example.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Email: info@yg-networks.com
Anhui Office
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: http://www.yg-networks.com
Glad you found some answers here!
Thanks for the info. Its good to know I’m not alone in getting this.
Cheers
Good to hear from you, knowing that your are safe!
After we got the scam letter from ygnetworks.org we respond with the first Klingon scam
———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 6:23 PM
Subject: Re: Notice of Intellectual Property-Trademark Name
To: Angela
Hello Angela,
Thank you for you performing you duty on our behalf, indeed, atomicshrimp has been a heirloom in our tribe for many many years and to see the name with the .cn and .asia is in itself a grave insult to our culture and heritage.
Before paying with a bo’Degh or two, as is the custom in our land let me assure you that we will take all the necessary precautions so that this will not develop into a full Klingon tribal revenge. Like they say: “leghlaHchu’be’chugh mIn lo’laHbe’ taj jej”. We got everything under control – DO NOT WORRY!
– Hide quoted text –
However I am sure that a company of your stature could assist me in a major way.
I am the group managing director of the Anti Klingon Burps And Narcotics federation (AKBAN) and a member of the ad hoc committee set up by the federal government of Qo’noS to review contracts awarded by the past star-fleet administration between 1985-1993. The members of the committee are interested in the importation of goods into the country with the funds presently floating in the Central Bank of Qo’noS – Anti Klingon Burps And Narcotics federation (AKBAN) foreign payments account.
Our request is anchored on our strong desire to establish a lasting business relationship with you and your company (ygnetworks). We hence solicit your partnership to enable us transfer into your account the said funds. You have been recommended to us in confidence and we were assured of your ability and reliability to prosecute business transaction that require maximum confidentiality.
This fund is presently floating in the Anti Klingon Burps And Narcotics federation (AKBAN) foreign payments account with the Central Bank of Qo’noS (CBQ). This is as result of grossly over invoiced contracts which were executed for the AKBAN during the last administration in Qo’noS, and are presently under verification. To this effect, the present administration in Qo’noS set up an ad-hoc committee to identify, scrutinize and recommend for payment all valid contracts that have been fully executed. In the course of our assignment, we have identified a lot of misappropriated and inflated funds which are presently floating in the suspense account of the Central Bank of Qo’noS ready for payment. The companies who executed their contracts have been fully paid. It is now part of the over inflated sum of 2 USD that we intend to transfer into the foreign account.
I have therefore been mandated as a matter of trust by the members of the committee to look for a foreign partner into whose account we could transfer the sum of 2 USD (Two US dollars) only. Hence I am writing you this letter. We have agreed to share the funds thus:
(1) 65% for us (the committee members) and
(2) 25% for account owner (ygnetworks.org or you)
(3) 10% to be used in settling taxation and all local and foreign expenses that will be uncured in the course of this transaction.
It is from the 65% that we wish to commence the importation business. Please note that this transaction is 100% safe and guaranteed since the law under which our committee was set up has empowered us to disburse all the funds found to be floating in the Central Bank of Qo’noS redundant account from 1985 till date. We shall commence the transfer of the funds immediately we receive the following information by telefax: (number omitted):
(1) your company’s name and full address
(2) your banker’s name, address, telephone and fax numbers
(3) the account number and name of beneficiary.
The above information are to enable us put up letters of claim and job description to the respective ministries for the issuance of the mandatory fund release approval/recommendations. This way, your company will become recognized and accepted as the beneficiary of the contract entitlements before the final remittance to your nominated account by the Central Bank of Qo’noS being the paying bank.
We are looking forward to doing this business with you and solicit your absolute confidentiality in this transaction. Please acknowledge the receipt of this letter using the above telefax numbers for more details regarding the transaction.
Yours faithfully, Worf, Son of Mogh
Anti Klingon Burps And Narcotics (AKBAN)
Ha! Ha! Ha! This is funny!
Man thank you so much for this post man , i just got this email a sec ago and was really worried .
Thanks man
Fear not! You are safe!
Thanks for your helpful analysis and expose of this SCAM.
A copy of what I just got from them is appended below. They are still going strong. Obviously enough people are being taken in and paying them to register .cn domains etc. that it continues to be profitable for them. Do you think they actually do register people’s domains who respond to their emails? Or do they just take people’s money and do nothing…? Is there any concern about or enforcement against such operations in China?
Thanks again! Larry
==============================
From: John john@yg-network.com Sent: Friday, November 19, 2010 1:43 AM
To: ******* Subject: Internet domain name & keyword
Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On November.16th,2010, We received HAITONG company’s application that they are registering the name ” *************” as their Internet Keyword and “*************.cn”、”*************.com.cn ” 、”*************.asia “domain names etc.. It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Best regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Tel:+86(0)21 6191 8696
Fax:+86(0)21 6191 8697
web: http://www.ygnetwork.com.cn
The new policy to register a .cn is to submit your identification document. .cn domains are less fraud than before.
Scammers acts upon your fear and greedy. when you start paying them, they will trick you to pay for more, presenting to you that the problem is not solve and need more money to upkeep, etc. One case after another and this goes on until you realize it a fraud and they disappear.
I doubt they will register because you need proper documents and it will expose them.
Thanks for the info here.
I got a slight variation of this email (Improvements to spelling etc).
Like many posters before me, I was worried at first, but glad to see some details here on this page, and I won’t give this problem a second thought.
Sadly, if these people have been around this long already without getting shut down yet, I believe they will still continue to catch a few more unsuspecting website owners who don’t take the time to do their homework and check your page for themselves.
Keep up the good work.
Good to know that your are not cheated by the dark side!
Thank you for posting this – I received the scam email this morning and although I smelt a rat, you saved me a lot of time in establishing the facts.
I am happy to know that this article save you time!
I simply replied
“F*** OFF”
Ya! Fish off man! Lame scammer! Can’t even spell properly!
Thanks for your post,
I just got one from China and proceeded to doing my homework. It didn’t take long to discover the scam, just as was the case when other scammers wanted thousands of £s to protect my inventions when they are not an authorised intellectual property office.
My domain name was original until I went about seeking investors form my inventions…but the joke is on the rogues because BO 2 BO Ltd is a registered company and google are doing a great job relegating the copycats to the foot notes and back pages.
Stay cool! And keep inventing!
Thanks for the kind words and a million thanks for the good work you do in alerting us to the scam.
Thansk for the tips – saved me some grief
Here is the almost identical e-mail we received from “angela”:
Dear Manager,
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Shanghai, China. On November,29th,2010, We received HUADI Company’s application that they are registering the name “teamredsolutions” as their Internet Trademark and “teamredsolutions.cn”,”teamredsolutions.com.cn” ,”teamredsolutions.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
3002, Nanhai Building 854.Nandan Road
Xuhui District, Shanghai
Email: info@yg-networks.com
Anhui Office
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: http://www.yg-networks.com
How I wish they can have other email contents so that I have something to write about them! Stay cool!
Thanks a lot, I receive same mail
And you found the same us. Hee hee!
Thank you for posting this!! I too just go the similar email!
You are welcome!
Hi,
I received the same email, thanks to this websites info, I didnt get scammed.
Thanks.
Cris
Stay cool! glad the article is informative to you.
We received this same scam attempt today. This website helped solidify my suspicions.
Here is mine:
Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On December 17th 2010. We received HAITONG company’s application,they want to register ” jameslist” as its Internet keyword and CN/Asia domain names. It is china and Asia domain names.But after checking we find this domain name conflict with your company , in order to deal with this matter better,so we send you email ,and want to confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?
I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
Best Regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Office:+86(0)21 6191 8696
Mobile: +86 1366152 9704
Fax:+86(0)21 6191 8697
web:www.ygnetworkltd.com
I wonder when will this scam end!
Thank you for this most interesting and informative post re. internet domain scams. Without it I would have fallen into a quagmire. I recently recieved an identical email from Angela, but the company mentioned was QUNDI, with the same phone numbers as yours. Again, thank you for your expert incisiveness.
I am very happy to know that you are safe from the scam!
+1
got simmilar email, this time he used other investment companies name.
Thanks for the update!
I just got it too. I was suspicious from the beginning. First, they sent it not to the email registered with my domain registrar. And most importantly, there is already a large Korean company which has the .net version of my domain. Wonder if they got the same email?
I guess they have received it too! My guess is, most likely they will forward to their lawyer.
I got another one of those also. When I found Qundi on facebook with the same last name as the sender, I got even more suspicious.
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On January,3rd,2011, We received QUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “iraqwarheroes” as their Internet Trademark and “iraqwarheroes.cn”,”iraqwarheroes.com.cn” ,”iraqwarheroes.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: rg-net.org
web: http://www.rg-net.org
Good to know you are not fool by them! Cheers!
Just received the same email from “John” with company name Haitong. You saved me a lot of time and worry. Thanks!
You are always welcome! I am glad I have help you save time!
just gotten same mail from John, thought it is a scam so browsed and landed here…
is there a way to report the domains of such scams with the result of having them deregistered and banned?
Good article! I got the same in Hungary in Europe! nice try, saved me some time to reply to this scam.. good from google that this is the first hit if you type in the website!
I just got this email too and from John
This is still making the rounds… I have noticed that the phone numbers listed are probably variations of a local number with the 860 added to it. I also wonder if the pop star Angela Zhang has approved the use of her name on these?? Doubtful. Thanks for the information, here is what I received
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On January,13th,2011, We received LUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “plancycle” as their Internet Trademark and “plancycle.cn”,”plancycle.com.cn” ,”plancycle.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: http://www.ygnetworks.org
.
Seems this scam is still going almost a year on…received an near identical email today, with the ‘Company”s name changed to LUNDI and web address now http://www.ygnetworks.org
Thanks for the post.
I also just received such email from a “John” this morning … WTF is going on???
Got this the on January 16th, 2011…
Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On January 14th 2011, We received HAITONG company’s application that they are registering the name ” dan-ando ” as their Internet Keyword and ” dan-ando .cn “、” dan-ando .com.cn ” 、” dan-ando .asia “domain names etc…, It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the owner of the trademark, In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Best regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Tel:+86(0)21 6191 8696
Fax:+86(0)21 6191 8697
web:www.ygnetworkltd.com
—
So this long running scam has morphed a little. Angela is no longer the “Oversea marketing manager” since John has replaced her. New telephone number as well.
At first I thought this was a registrar asking permission to use the .cn/.asia etc. version of our personal website and I was thinking sure… I don’t care but then I said wait, this reads more like a 419 scam in the making which is how I stumbled upon this website. Thanks for info!
Hosea,
Thank you for taking you time and doing the work to post this. I appreciate what you have done and thank you for it.
We received the same, Ours was from “John Bing.”
I thought it was a scam but I also thought it was a Chinese company.
This happened at the time President Obama was having the State Dinner for President Hu Jintao.
When I emailed them back that I would be at the dinner, weather permitting, I would bring this to the attention of Hu Jintao.
I also mentioned that our attorney Secretary James Baker would be there too.
Zap and Zing, there were no more emails. John Bing fell off the earth or dug a hole and ended up in the United States.
How do I figure out where this originated? How do I track down this John Bing? Is it possible to do?
Is it a certain that it did not come from China?
If you have a moment I would appreciate any information to aid me find the Bing and country of origin.
Again my thanks, J.W.
I also received the mail in Lima – Peru, here is the text:
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On February,14th,2011, We received LUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “xxxxxxx” as their Internet Trademark and “xxxxxxxxx.cn”,”sierraexportadora.com.cn” ,”xxxxxxxxxxx.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: www,yg-net.org
I have just received an almost identical email today. I have a Chinese contact in Beijing who has just phoned all their “offices” and none of the phones are being answered. She thinks, too, that they are not genuine. As she is in Beijing she will check their address later.
Dear Manager,
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On February,14th,2011, We received LUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “pan-europroperties” as their Internet Trademark and “pan-europroperties.cn”,”pan-europroperties.com.cn” ,”pan-europroperties.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: rg-net.org
web: www,rg-net.org
hi Hosea,
i recieved the same email this morning. i am not sure how they found me but i figured it was because i was on an international site that had been exploting my images for a few months before i found out. here is what ‘Angela’ sent me:
——
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On February,15th,2011, We received LUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “anubianprincess” as their Internet Trademark and “anubianprincess.cn”,”anubianprincess.com.cn” ,”anubianprincess.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: www,yg-net.net
—–
i googled www,yg-net.net and wasnt impressed. then i googled thier company and the second entry was yours!!! thank you SOOOOOO much for alerting us to this type of scam.
i did respond, asking them their purpose and i let them know i was skeptical on their contacting me. i will not be corresponding with them again.
Hosea, you are the best.
take good care and keep it up!
sincerly, A Nubian Princess
Good to know you are safe from the scam.
oops! i forgot to add my website. it is http://www.msresa.com
thanks, A Nubian Princess
Got it as well. About as convincing as “you have one the South African lottery” e-mail!
Angela is very much alive and kicking… Clearly John wasn’t performing as well as he should have. I have just received the same email.
I have to say though, it’s not often that I get past the point of “add to junk mail” and actually look something up. I hate spam mail.
Thanks for posting this though. All very valid points and certainly worth the read. Now to hit the junk mail button on this damn email and carry on 🙂
Our organization just received this today (3/8/2011). Glad this thread was up. Saved me time and effort.
Just got one, only it was for the “…HUNDI Company’s application…”
Nobody should EVER respond to completely unsolicited messages like these… Anyone who is gullible/naive enough to fall for this kind of crud probably shouldn’t be doing business on the internet anyway. *shrug*
Wow, John and “Haitong” are still super busy.
Just received my email today about Haitong wanting my domain. Thank god for this entry. Googled ‘ygnetworks’ and this came up. No need to waste anymore time on it now. Good Job!
Well done bit of snooping! Thanks.
I’ve just recieve the same email 2 hours ago.
Luckly I check for their credential on google and found this article.
You’ve save me time and money.
Thank You.
Received same mail from John and company Haitong, already reported this to my registrar.
You can report this to your registrar in the abuse@ account, just ask for it, I already reported it.
Still going strong, received mine yesterday. Thanks for putting out the warning!
I also reveived this SCAM email! Unbelievable. Thanks for posting this to the world. I can’t believe such scum continues to try and deceive people in such a way.
Bastards!
I got it too!
Who uses blue fonts to say anything serious?!
Mine was written by John… hahaha… seems that Angela was fired.
Although is quite obvious is a scam, is important we keep posting about it, so people is aware and nobody gets scammed =)
I got the same type of email and now phone calls, such a scam
Just received the mail from one John now. Can anyone tell where to report such scams.
Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On April 25th 2011, We received HAITONG company’s application that they are registering the name ” ayurherbalproducts ” as their Internet Keyword and ” ayurherbalproducts .cn “、” ayurherbalproducts .com.cn ” 、” ayurherbalproducts .asia “domain names etc.., It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the owner of the trademark, In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Best regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Tel: +86(0)21 6191 8696
Fax: +86(0)21 6191 8697
web: www,ygnetworkltd.com
Good morning!
I’ve also received one, thanks for the info!
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On April,25th,2011, We received HUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “cameldive” as their Internet Trademark and “xxxxxx.cn”,”xxxxx.com.cn” ,”xxxxx.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: www,yg-net.net
I’ve had this 5 times now twice from “Angela” and three times from “John”. Yes it’s a scam.
I can only echo the above, your work is appreciated, thank you and well done.
SE
Thanks for writing this up. Just received another one of these winners today.
I just want to share my share my experience on this matters below is the letter that I received. I totally ignored them, I know they are just fishing with your information if you try to call them then they will have your phone numbers and some info, with your given info they could use it for their advantage.
Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On May 9th 2011, We received HAITONG company’s application that they are registering the name ” *****elearning ” as their Internet Keyword and ” *****elearning.cn “、” *****elearning.com.cn ” 、” *****elearning.asia “domain names etc.., It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the owner of the trademark, In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Best regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Tel: +86(0)21 6191 8696
Fax: +86(0)21 6191 8697
web: www,ygnetworkltd.com
Hosea, many thanks for dissecting this so eloquently. It just saved me a lot of time, after having received these funny notifications…
Cheers! Andreas
just received it today, so it’s still “alive”….
Thank you for posting this. Yep certainly smacked of a scam.
Many thanks
Gavin
hello there, this scam continues.
thank you for the job you have done on that.
“Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On May 16th 2011, We received HAITONG company’s application that they are registering the name ” pointsgroup ” as their Internet Keyword and ” website.cn “、” website.com.cn ” 、” website.asia “domain names etc.., It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the owner of the trademark, In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Best Regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Office: +86(0)21 6191 8696
Mobile: +86 1366152 9704
Fax: +86(0)21 6191 8697
web: www,ygnetworkltd.com”
I know that this post is somewhat older but it is not outdated. Today I received this:
“Dear President&CEO,
This is a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in HongKong,China.
On May.19, 2011, we received an application from Meihua Holdings Group requested”jipitec”
as their internet trademark keyword and China (.CN .ASIA) domain names. But after checking ,we find this name is conflict
with your company’s name or trademark. In order to deal with this issue better, it’s necessary to send this email
to you and confirm with your company whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?
If you did not authorize, please let us know within 7 workdays, so that we will handle this issue better.
Looking forward to your reply
Best regards,
Alice
Alice Zhou
Checking Department
————————————
China Internet Registration Institution:
HongKong Office(Head Office)
HongKong China Technology Ltd
Tel: +00852-39711641
Fax: +00852-39711857
Rm 1105,Lippo Centre Tower1,
89 Queensway,Admiralty,Hong Kong China.
Mail: alice(at)Chinatechltd.org Web: www,ChinaTechnology.org”
As you can see they changed the name again. But the company is the same. Same is the website.
Thanks for your post. As you notice from my writing here I am not a native english speaker my self. Therefore it is a little harder to me to determine who good or bad the syntax of an e-mail is. Even though the mistakes in this are quite obvious.
Your post was therefore the first source to determine it is a scam. Thanks.
Philipp
Good to know you are safe from the scam!
do not trust them , ygnetworkltd.com is Scam ,and all this kind domain dispute is scam , they just scare you and ask you pay MUCH higher money to resgister to domains from them , As i know , the chinese GOV is trying best to attack this kind DOMAIN Scam , this is really bad impression for China , eveybody pls do not trust any domain registration ,
i am from China, i know this Domain scams a lot , i want to do something and help the overseas freinds .companies do not get scam from some unhonest busienss man in China , no matter JOhn bing , or angela etc… , the name is not real chinese name , so it is unuseful to track down them , what you can do is to feedback this to embassy
, and the most useful thing is ” DO NOT reply any emails to them : boz if you do and tell them you would like to ” protect ” you domains in Asia , then they will register your domains immediately and ask you pay money to them to buy from them , so you got fool , this is how they trick !! hope this message can be helpful for the ppl who is searching this kind ” DOMAIN scams “
Thanks for your advise!
Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On June 7th 2011. We received Tianhua Ltd’s application, they want to register “XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX” as its Internet keyword and CN/Asia domain names. It is china and Asia domain names. But after checking we find this domain name conflict with your company, in order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email, and want to confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China?
I’m looking forward to hearing from you!
Best Regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86 216191 8696
Mobile: +86 136615 29704
Fax: +86 216191 8697
Web: www,ygnetwork-ltd.com
Thanks! I thought this sounded strange – so I went looking and came upon this website.
My boss also gave my a hardcopy of a similar scam mail. “John” – a highly respected overseas marketing manager wrote to us that they can keep the domain names safe for a special period of time. Company name is now www,ygnetworkltd.com and it is really a bad ass scam stuff. Our Internet is growing more and more to one big %&$”§. Please people be careful and don’t give SPAMMERS and SCAMMERS any chance to get ur money.
cheers from Germany
Jan
Just had this… sent twice at exactly the same time.
The info above has been very handy, although I was already suspicious. My website has an uncommon BUT logical to English speakers name, the chances that someone in China would like to use it also are astronomical!
Example: robertislefthandedandfat.com :O)
I just received this email scam. I want to thank all of you for looking out not only for yourselves, but others.
At first, I thought the company they mentioned was stealing my product.
Again, Thank You all for posting
Hosea,
Thanks for mentioning this. I just received a similar email today and instantly Googled “www.ygnetwork.com.cn” and found your page. I see they have created an english version of their website (no doubt taking your own advice). Well, thanks a bunch, you saved me some aggravation, and very much appreciated.
Dave
Received this email today. I’ve contacted Godaddy and they advised to sit and relax, basically. If something like this will come up it will be through Godaddy only… .
Here is the partial quote of the email:
“This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On June 27th 2011, We received Tianhua Ltd’s application that they are registering the name”
FYI: Email was signed by:
John
Oversea marketing manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86 216191 8696
Fax: +86 216191 8697
Web: www,ygnetwork.com.cn
Header of email seemed right, at least in gmail.
They are raising their ugly heads again
Dear Manager:
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in Anhui, China. On June,27th,2011, We received HUNDI Company’s application that they are registering the name “eaglesafety” as their Internet Trademark and “eaglesafety.cn”,”eaglesafety.com.cn” ,”eaglesafety.asia”domain names etc.,It is China and ASIA domain names.But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check.According to the principle in China,your company is the owner of the trademark,In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Kind regards
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: www,yg-net.org
Hi,
Good to see this. I got a mail today morning and was confused. Searched the internet and your site popped up in google first. Happy to see that I am not the only one who is been sent this.
Thanks for doing all the investigation and saving our time.
Good luck
This scam is still going on, my biz partner in Switerzerland got 2 emails from 2 difference companies, 1 located in HK and 1 in Shanghai (famous John).
Thank you for the post, I’ve sent him this link so that he can understand what is going on.
Nice information on here, Looks like it is still going on, I got this email this morning.
Thanks
“Dear Manager:
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On July 11th 2011, We received Tianhua Ltd’s application that they are registering the name ” rgs-sheetmetal ” as their Internet Keyword and ” rgs-sheetmetal .cn “、” rgs-sheetmetal .com.cn ” 、” rgs-sheetmetal .asia “domain names etc.., It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company. As the domain name registrar in China, it is our duty to notice you, so I am sending you this Email to check. According to the principle in China, your company is the owner of the trademark, In our auditing time we can keep the domain names safe for you firstly, but our audit period is limited, if you object the third party application these domain names and need to protect the brand in china and Asia by yourself, please let the responsible officer contact us as soon as possible. Thank you!
Best regards,
John
Oversea marketing manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86 216191 8696
Fax: +86 216191 8697
Web: www,ygnetwork.com.cn
If you are not appropriate person, please forward this to your CEO, because this is urgent. Thanks.”
Glad you find the information here helpful!
Yes this is still going on. Thank you for the post. It appeared second on my search so well done you in achieveing that too. Thanks
Lois, UK
Lois, Stay cool!
thanks for sharing your information & experience with us… thanks again ….
You are welcome welcome welcome!
Thanks for the post.. reveived the same yesterday in Australia but with minor changes within the text and ending as follows:
Angela Zhang
Anhui Office (Head Office)
Registration Department Manager
Room 1008 Shenhui Building
Haitian Road, Huli Anhui, China
Office: +86 0553 4994789
Fax: +86 0553 4994789
web: www,yg-net.net
My personal thanks to everyone for sharing the info ..
same here! what did you do about it?
Just ignore it!
I got a similar message today (below). I called the number and it was fake. Definitely a scam.
Yes! It is a scam that con many people paying extra for domain registration!
Hi,
I recieved the same email from ‘Angela’ but being a little naive I emailed them back about my domain / trademarked name. Feel a little foolish for not looking into this online first. Does anyone know what I have jeopardised by returning an email to these fraudsters?
Not to worry! Just ignore it!
Thank you so much for this article, received one email from the scam artists today, can’t believe they would want to target my website especially since we are a newly set up company. Prevented one scam experience thanks to this site
Hi Hosea,
Thanks for sharing. I just got it last week…hopefully they don’t keep on sending all those junks.
This email does indeed originate from China – however, the IP address is listed on a number of blacklists – a sure warning sign.
Thanks for the tracing!
Got the same email today from Angela Zhang, already knew it was a scam as I get at least 3 a month of these type of email. Sent a reply telling her to Foxtrot Oscar and something about a hope of her catching face aids.
I think she get excited seeing your reply!
We have also received the following messages;
Received 5/9/2011 and replied
Dear Manager,
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. We received an application from Tianhua Ltd on September 5, 2011. They want to register ” simonjrobinson” as their internet keyword and China (CN) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflicts with your company. In order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China or not?…
Good to know you are safe!
i recieved this email again is there any way we can stop these scammers
John
Dear Manager,
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On September 5th 2011, We received Tianhua Ltd’s application that they are registering the name ” eaglesafety ” as their Internet Keyword and ” eaglesafety .cn “、” eaglesafety .com.cn ” 、” eaglesafety .asia “domain names etc.., It is China and ASIA domain names. But after auditing we found the brand name been used by your company…
Just ignore it! These people will always find we ways to cheat people!
GOT ONE. LETS CREATE A FACEBOOK FANPAGE!
Ha ha! I won’t waste my time on it! But I will “LIKE” it, if there is one out there!
I too received these 2 emails & thanks to all of you great folk who pass the word on this stuff, I e-mailed them back saying CEASE & DESIST, get a real job you BS spammers/ scammers & a few other choice things. They almost had me believing it was real until I googled Tianhua Ltd. and found all your info & blogs. These AH’s are getting pretty good. All they need is one person to fall for their game!!!
Thanks everyone.
Smart move!
Thanks for the post.. reveived the same TODAY,
Dear Manager,
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration and dispute internationally in China and Asia.
On October 3rd 2011, We received Tianhua Ltd’s application that they are registering the name ” 4pointscorp ” as their Internet Keyword and ” 4pointscorp .cn “、” 4pointscorp .com.cn ” 、” 4pointscorp .asia “domain names etc..,
Always welcome! Good to know you are safe!
Great thread and saved me a lot of angst as I just received a similar email from:
John Rong
General Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86 216191 8696
Mobile: +86 136615 29704
Fax: +86 216191 8697
And was glad to find this info when Googled.
God bless.
I am glad you are safe from the scam!
Dear CEO,
Based on your company object their application, we have suggested they should choose another name to avoid this conflict but they insist on this name as CN/Asia domain names (.asia/.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) and internet keyword on the internet. In our opinion, maybe they do the similar business as your company and register it to promote his company…
I hope you find my information useful! Cheers!
Heya i’m for the primary time here. I found this board and I in finding It truly helpful & it helped me out a lot. I’m hoping to present something again and help others like you aided me.
Good To hear from you!
I was about to send them the registration fee today to protect our domain when I decided to just check them out first and thanks to your site I was able to establish its just another scam. Thanks again.
Good to hear that you are safe!
Got mine today (22nd November 2011) – no thanks Angela Zhang – will ignore!
Angela will be very disappointed!
Thanks for posting this! I just got one of these, word for word from John. Glad I found this, thank you!
Glad you are safe!
Thanks for the post guys,
The email is still doing the rounds. Received one today from…
Hi Sam, good to hear from you!
That is really attention-grabbing, You are a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look ahead to seeking extra of your magnificent post. Additionally, I have shared your site in my social networks
Thank you!
Thank you for this website. I received an email from Angela for ygnetwork a few days ago. I got really scared that a company was going to buy my domain names. I replied and told her that I wanted to buy the names right away.
So tonight I just received the email attachment from her. I was ready to print out the form and fill it out. But I became suspicious when I saw how expensive the yearly rates were and that it was a 3-year minimum. It would’ve cost me about $600 to register all of the names for 3 years.
You saved me! Thank you. I am so relieved. I will not be replying to Angela’s latest email now.
Hi Brandi, is cool to hear from you and know that you are saved from all these BS!
Thank you for the good writeup. It in truth was once a leisure account it. Glance complicated to more added agreeable from you! However, how could we be in contact?
Tốt để nghe từ bạn!
Many thanks for this site. We’ve been targeted twice and both times I told him the full force of international law would be brought to bear. I wish I had just forwarded these exchanges!
Hi Bill, Good to hear from you!
Thanks for warning us. We will ignore it as advised above.
Hi Rob, Glad you are safe!
They almost had me believing it was real until I googled Tianhua Ltd. I have joined your feed and look ahead to seeking extra of your magnificent post. I received an email from Angela for ygnetwork a few days ago. I got really scared that a company was going to buy my domain names. I replied and told her that I wanted to buy the names right away. I was ready to print out the form and fill it out. It in truth was once a leisure account it. We will ignore it as advised above. This website helped solidify my suspicions. More strategy and ethos than tactic.NIce post, thanks for sharing。
Thank you for sharing your experience!
I have received the same email at my job. I work for a large company and I have nothing to do with the domain names so I knew it was a scam. I have reported it to my compliance department and the operator of the site.
GET A LIFE!!
Agree! Get a life!
Thanks for posting! I just received one of these emails today but they changed the name to …DATON Company’s application… Still from Angela Zhang though! I started to panic, then I Googled. I wish something could be done, you know someone is going to fall for it!
Writing this article is the best that I can help to reduce people from getting scam!
We, at the World Egg Throwing Federation got a similar message. Thanks for the info.
Mo
Throw some eggs at them!
Thank you for posting it!
We received the same today!
Always welcome!
Thanks, Hosea! I figured any legitimate notice would be phrased in proper English (mine was from “John Gong”). Your breakdown of what is wrong with the notice confirmed my suspicions of it being a scam.
Good to know you are safe from the scam! Cheers!
Dear Hosea – you are a star – thank you. Received the amail, felt concerned, googled it and your stuff came up- problem solved, head space spared. 🙂
Always happy to help! You are always welcome!
March 08, 2012 – It is still going on!
Please Help! Some one is always blocking my web site.
Sad to see people getting cheated! Sigh!
Just got this email in new Zealand, thanks for helping
Always welcome! I love New Zealand!
Thanks for the posts!
I got the same email last night in Japan. I think I got another one last year.
I will ignore it.
Ha ha! The must have like your domain names so much, keep sending to you! LOL!
I got one today from Angela Zhang as well, stressed me out a little even with the bad english. Thank you for your post and everyone’s feedback, now I can bounce it and happily go on with my day 🙂
Cool! Seize the day!
We received a very similar message except the registering party was apparently JBQ Invest Ltd. and it seemed to be from a site that has what the one you referenced was missing. ncokow.com It still smells like a scam though.
Good to know you are safe from it!
The mail went to a swiss site today, still the same content, some grammar related things were changed though.
Anyway, thanks alot for your insight, it helped alot people!
Guess they are changing to suit your swiss market! LOL!
Thank you for this info – got an email from John at the ‘China domain name registration center’ and thought it was a scam, but after finding your blog feel very happy to delete the email!
Good to know you are happily deleting it! Cheers!
They are still sending the email out and you are right on with all your information. They have not changed anything. Thanks for looking into it for all of us.
You are still always welcome!
It’s coming around again; it came May 25, 2012, nearly verbatim – same names & same errors, it just has a new domain.
And there are still victims falling for it! Sigh!
Nice to see this post, thanks Hosea. The email is still going around. 2 years and 4 months later.. They have adjusted it quite a bit though.
The email:
Title:Asia/Cn domain name & Internet Keyword
“Dear Manager,
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. We received an application from Hansen Ltd on May 28, 2012. They want to register ” prebes ” as their internet keyword and China/Asia (CN/ASIA) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflicts with your company. In order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China or not?
Best Regards
John
General Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86 216191 8696
Mobile: +86 1870199 4951
Fax: +86 216191 8697
Guess they must be making good money!
Just a FYI: They are still at it. Got an email this a.m. – same scam.
Wish someone can nuke their site! LOL!
Thanks guys at least I wont spend my time replying to these monkeys.
Because we are their bananas! Sigh!
The business in question seem to be changing their name from Angela to John, this is the email I receive 6/22/12. Thanks for looking out. What would happen if someone replies to them?
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. We received an application from Hansen Ltd on June 18, 2012. They want to register ” zeony ” as their internet keyword and China/Asia (CN/ASIA) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflicts with your company. In order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China or not?
Best Regards
John
General Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
…
I think Angela resign so they employ John! LOL!
It is going on in Germany as well.
I got mine on Fr 2012/06/29 22:31pm by John
Thanks for the informations in these blog.
Together we can handle these tech-crime.
Wow! Their business must be good! Sigh!
Always pay attention to proper spelling and grammar… I suggest to report such spam…
Yes! Proper spelling and grammar is a hint!
I received this email as well to day.
Good to hear from you! I am glad you are safe!
looks they are still going strong….got one only 5 minutes ago. Was tempted to reply then realised the email address was a dud. No plans make a call anytime soon….
Hi
Nice page Just got email same as above from john using “hansen ltd” Got this july 10 2012
Sean
Ha Ha! Wonder who will be the next manager after John!
Still doing the rounds 12th July 2012. Just received it in New Zealand. Detected the “Engrish no two good” so decided to look for any warnings on the net and found this fabulous site. Thanks. Philip.
Today wie received this mail for recht-gehabt.de and thanks god to your blog, I quickly realized that this was some sort of Scam…
Good to hear from you from Germany!
I got one mail two weeks ago and two more today.
Added to spam now, thanks for the article, Hosea!
Karma, you are welcome!
had one yesterday from “John” – nearly fell for it until I asked our office computer guy. I even put the poor grammer down to english not being “Johns” first language. Content was quite convincing and I replied that it had been passed on to the IT dept. Had another email this morning from the company that John was saying was going to take our company domain name. They were quite abrupt. John has now sent me a reply saying he would send me a price list if we want him to help us stave off the rogue domain names!
Give them my website and say you buy cheaper here! Ha ha ha!
Just got the email this morning in the UK. I responded at first – but will certainly not be buying these domain names, thanks to the information on this website. Thank you!
Have a good laugh at their English and move on!
I received this email today from Harvey. I am based in Australia.
Had me worried initially.
Below is the email:
(If you are not in charge of this please transfer this urgent email to your President & CEO, thanks.)
Dear Manager,
We are the registration and solution center in China. We have an important issue to confirm with you. On Jul 20th, 2012, we formally received an application, one company which called “JBQ Invest Ltd” is applying to register ”………” as Web brand and Domain names:
………..cn / .com.cn / .net.cn / .org.cn / .hk / .com.hk / .in / .tw / .com.tw / .asia
After our preliminary investigation, we found the brand name and these domain names being applied are as same as your company’s, so we wonder whether your company consigned JBQ Invest Ltd to register these domain names with us?
If the aforesaid company is your business partner or your subsidiary company, please DO NOT reply us, we will approve the application automatically. If you have no any relationship with this company, please contact us within 10 workdays. If out of the deadline, we will approve the application submitted by “JBQ Invest Ltd” unconditionally.Do not hesitate to contact us if you have any question.
Best Regards,
Harvey Wu
Senior Consultant
Room 601 | No.1 | Lane 1118 Xizha Road| Fengxian District | Shanghai | China
Office: +86 (21) 6715 0445 | Fax: +86 (21) 6715 0445
Ha ha ha! Now they have a Senior Consultant!
got one today saying that some company called Hansen Ltd wanted to register my domain name… bad English – replied – suspect theyll bugger off now 😉
Ha ha ha! Have a good laugh!
Thank you for your help and reassurance that this is a scam. I received a first email from a ‘John Wang’ and a second (more aggressive) today, below:
Dear Sirs,
We are Hansen Ltd based in Chinese office, our company has submitted the “readonpublications ” as CN/Asia domain name and Internet Keyword, we are waiting for Mr. John’s approval. We hope your company will not object our application, because this name is very important for our products in Chinese and Asian market. We don’t want your company to use this name in China and Asia, we believe our company will become the legal owner of this name in China and Asia. Even though Mr. John advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name and permanent registration of this name.
Best regards
Lin Dong
I received that email as well. At first I thought it was a legitimate enquiry as I had it on my Blackberry and replied to tell them that Hansen Ltd were in no way affiliated with my company. I then got the rather abrupt email from Lin Dong telling me that they would take my domain name, that’s when I decided to check up on it. Didn’t realise either that Lin Dong could only send from a yahoo email “hansonltd@yahoo.cn”. I think this will just get filtered as spam now.
Good to know you are not cheated!
got one today … still John….still a scam…..thanks for posting this info – also saved me some worry!
Worry not! Have a good laugh!
One of the problems I see is that these scammers seem to read your blog and are correcting the clues which help us determine that it is a scam. Even though it is not a link the ygnetwork… does take you to a pretty web site in Chinese and English. Though not great the English is not too bad for a non (english) native writer. Thanks Hosea for your help on this!
Previous is Angelia and now the manager is John. Ha ha ha!
Knew it was a scam so I set up a new email for our domain as:
sookmi.koch@….com – suck my c*ck
I replied and feigned interest, said I would pay top dollar to ensure they keep my keyword and domain name for me. They senr me a form with prices etc, I assume they are after bank details. I just string em along, they think they have found a sucker…lol
Fill in some latin M****F*** names and give them a fake credit card number! Ha ha ha!
I’ve got this one this evening:
Dear Manager,
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. We received an application from Hansen Ltd on July 30, 2012. They want to register ” anvweb ” as their internet keyword and China/Asia (CN/ASIA) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflicts with your company. In order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China or not?…
Just ignore it! Laugh and move on!
We have received one from John but he has not asked us to buy the domains before the other company does.
We were then contact by Hansen Ltd who wrote this –
Dear Sirs,
We are Hansen Ltd based in Chinese office, our company has submitted the “tamvo ” as CN/Asia domain name and Internet Keyword, we are waiting for Mr. John’s approval. We hope your company will not object our application, because this name is very important for our products in Chinese and Asian market. We don’t want your company to use this name in China and Asia, we believe our company will become the legal owner of this name in China and Asia. Even though Mr. John advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name and permanent registration of this name.
Best regards
Lin Dong
WE ONLY RESPONDED TO JOHN [SAME LETTER AS SHOWN IN EARLY THREADS] AND SAID WE WOULD OBJECT AND WERE ALREADY REGISTERED ETC ETC –
As per Tracey’s question before is there any danger to have replied on email – we have not given them anything?
Kind regards
Tam
Just ignore them! They will be wasting your time!
The same in Argentina!
Thank you all !!!!
Greetings to Argentina!
What a load of rubbish.
Laugh and move on!
More Rubbish.
Ya! Very funny rubbish!
thanks for that..
Really Informative.I also received it and replied it.
Is there any problem with it.
Hi Ravi, Good to hear from you!
Its going around Australia too, we got the same letter from John a week ago.
Thanks for showing these scammers for who they are.
I feel confident to delete and forget these criminals
This John is cool, his business is so global! Ha ha ha!
I have also received John’s E-Mail as well as a number of my Clients. Here is the e-mail:
Dear Manager,
(If you are not the person who is in charge of this, please forward this to your CEO,Thanks)
This email is from China domain name registration center, which mainly deal with the domain name registration in China. We received an application from Hansen Ltd on August 23, 2012. They want to register ” n******t ” as their internet keyword and China/Asia (CN/ASIA) domain names. But after checking it, we find this name conflicts with your company. In order to deal with this matter better, so we send you email and confirm whether this company is your distributor or business partner in China or not?
Best Regards
John
General Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86 216191 8696
Mobile: +86 1870199 4951
Fax: +86 216191 8697
Web:
***
I knew it was a scam and in actuality, if you check the domain under another registrar such as 123-reg.co.uk you’ll find the domains are probably available. Also the Limited Companies they mention are either none existant, dormant, haven’t file accounts after a year, have been trading less than a year or don’t exist. This bunch of outfits do not control the registrations, simply send out spam mailings in the hope you’ll panic and reply saying STOP THEM. They’ll then register the names and charge you a hefty price. However because we have good spam filters and I do like to feed a troll every now and again. I wasn’t afraid to reply to them and sent this e-mail:
John,
Thank you for your e-mail. After doing some research with Companies House, I have discovered the aforementioned company you refer to are currently NOT trading. There is another candidate that could potentially be the company that you refer to, but they have no accounts filed and have been trading over a year, so I suspect this is a “Dormant” company.
We have no interest in registering a China or Asia Domain Name as we will not be expanding our business outside of the European Union indefinitely.
If the company you mentioned does register these domain names and attempts to trade using our Copyrighted Brand or Business Name, then we will appoint a legal representative officer here in the UK and file legal proceedings against them under Fraud and any other appropriate / applicable classifications. They are a UK Limited (Ltd) company and therefore can be held accountable for such actions under a UK Court of Law.
I hope that provides you with an understanding of our position.
Best Regards,
Dominic
N******t Ltd
Sent from my iPad
Cool! Any reply from John?
I have the same kind of email from John Bing. Thanks for this blog. I didn’t fall for his scam. I told John that I will register with another company. I am curious what he is going to say next. May be he knows about this blog too.
Ha ha ha! I wonder too!
Thanks for this info I nearly bought the names off a legit company just to piss them off would of cost £166
I got an email from the person who company wanted to use the name as well which nearly had me
Cheers J
Hi James, Good to know you are safe!
Thanks for the heads up – was wondering whether it was a scam! Received this recently:
“Dear Ben ,
Based on your company having no relationship with them, we have suggested they should choose another name to avoid this conflict but they insist on this name as CN/Asia domain names (.asia/.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) and internet keyword on the internet. In our opinion, maybe they do the similar business as your company and register it to promote his company.
According to the domain name registration principle: The domain names and internet keyword which applied based on the international principle are opened to companies as well as individuals. Any companies or individuals have rights to register any domain name and internet keyword which are unregistered. Because your company haven’t registered this name as CN/ASIA domains and internet keyword on the internet, anyone can obtain them by registration. However, in order to avoid this conflict, the trademark or original name owner has priority to make this registration in our audit period. If your company is the original owner of this name and want to register these CN/ASIA domain names (.asia/.cn/.com.cn/.net.cn/.org.cn) and internet keyword to prevent anybody from using them, please inform us. We can send an application form and the price list to you and help you register these within dispute period.
Kind regards
John
General Manager
Shanghai Office (Head Office)
3002, Nanhai Building, No. 854 Nandan Road,
Xuhui District, Shanghai 200070, China
Tel: +86 216191 8696
Mobile: +86 1870199 4951
Fax: +86 216191 8697
Web: http://www.ygnetworkltd.com”
—————————————————————————-
However, he went one step further by communicating with me through a different email address, perhaps pretending to be the customer….
“Dear Sirs,
We are Hanson Ltd based in Chinese office, our company has submitted the “entertainmentcocktail ” as CN/Asia domain name and Internet Keyword, we are waiting for Mr. John’s approval. We hope your company will not object our application, because this name is very important for our products in Chinese and Asian market. We don’t want your company to use this name in China and Asia, we believe our company will become the legal owner of this name in China and Asia. Even though Mr. John advises us to change another name, we will persist in this name and permanent registration of this name.
Best regards
Lin Dong”
—————————————————————————-
Was quite well coordinated!
Thanks for the heads up!
Ben
Ben, thanks for the update!
In the Netherlands too ! Received 16 sept. the message from John.
Cool! They are so enterprising, going Holland too!
I am so grateful for this information and advice. I run our church website and received a similar email yesterday. I was on the point of replying when I decided to do a little internet search first. Many thank for your help.
Welcome, you are always welcome!