China registry contacting me?

[Datalife]

Hey guys,

I own this domain and it's a website, since years ago. Recently, I received an email from a Chinese registry asking me whether there is any conflict with my domain name because some Chinese company wants to register ALL the .cn and .asia versions of it.

They apparently want to know whether the company represented by my domain is my distributor or business partner in China.

I think the whole thing is strange. I have the .com and .net versions of my domain and my site has been running for well over 6 or 7 years.

What do you make of it?

Should I ignore them or tell them to go ahead, as who knows, one day the company intending to register these domains might realize that my .com holds power and make me an offer? Is my hold or ownership on the domain strong and powerful enough? My website is also a quality site that I built through hard work and recently I just knocked some guys for DMCA (stealing my content).

 

[forge]

Be careful that they're not just trying to sell you something, or worse.

 

[Datalife]

Be careful that they're not just trying to sell you something, or worse.

I am not sure to reply or ignore. If reply, what should I say? I don't want to end up on some spam list. These Chinese have earned a reputation as notorious spammers and hackers.

 

[Hypersot]

Just in case,
are you sure they're the chinese registry and not a random chinese registrar querying your domain?

also,
is the company that is supposed to be conflicting a worldwide company or a local one (ie. only in china)?

 

[Datalife]

Just in case,
are you sure they're the chinese registry and not a random chinese registrar querying your domain?

also,
is the company that is supposed to be conflicting a worldwide company or a local one (ie. only in china)?

Well, the email they sent gave their full address and tel/mobile/fax number. It looks legit and their site claims to be based in Shanghai (they offer registrations on all TLDs).

The company wanting to register all the .cn versions of my domain is a China-based company.

I'd think if they are so keen to register all the .cn versions (like .cn and com/net/org.cn) that they must have plans to go big.

 

[ulterios]

Well, if the .cn and .asia versions are registered then you might get extra traffic by people typing in .com or maybe .net instead or just out of curiosity of who owns the .com.

Depending on how much you value your domains and site, maybe this company might be a big time buyer, perhaps you can sell them the .com and .net for an outrageous price. That way they wouldn't have to worry about someone else having the prime extensions.

 

[Hypersot]

Well, the email they sent gave their full address and tel/mobile/fax number. It looks legit and their site claims to be based in Shanghai (they offer registrations on all TLDs).

The company wanting to register all the .cn versions of my domain is a China-based company.

I'd think if they are so keen to register all the .cn versions (like .cn and com/net/org.cn) that they must have plans to go big.

Seems I misunderstood your original post. Your mentioning 'registry', I thought the chinese registry themselves contacted you. That's why I wanted to clarify.

Since there is no TM involved and since you think they're legit , if you're willing to hear offers you should contact them... what's the worst that can happen?
I think the chances of a nice sale outweigh the chances of one more spam email

 

[Datalife]

Seems I misunderstood your original post. Your mentioning 'registry', I thought the chinese registry themselves contacted you. That's why I wanted to clarify.

Since there is no TM involved and since you think they're legit , if you're willing to hear offers you should contact them... what's the worst that can happen?
I think the chances of a nice sale outweigh the chances of one more spam email

Yes, it was the China registry contacting me just to "make sure" that my domain name doesn't conflict with their client's intended business purpose in China. It's their client (a China company) that apparently wants to register ALL the .cn and even the .asia versions of my domain name.

They were not asking for a sale or proposal.

 

[Datalife]

Thing is, I am afraid the registrant might try to spoof my site, and knowing how bad copyright laws are in China (even Google is banned in China I believe), I don't have a good feeling about that. If I were to dispute them on stealing my content in future, would these Chinese even respect copyright laws. China happens to be the copyright violating kingdom of the world.

 

[Paully]

I don't think that any good could come from replying.

 

[ulterios]

Replying or not replying will make no difference on if they are going to spoof your site or not. If that is their intention, they will do it anyway.

Why would they contact you asking what they did if they were going to spoof your site? Now that they have contacted you, they are on your radar for keeping an eye on them. If they wanted to spoof the site it would be in their best interest NOT to contact you and give you any reason to check on them.

 

[Sigit Prasetyo]

I have a mixed concerns about this. They can be very honest and their question about your domain name is actually asking you a permission if their clients can register the same domain name in their .cn/.asia version, or in another word, they are querying for trademark infringement from your side. However their sincerity might be lost in translation --English is not their first language, isn't it.

The other concern would be like what you said, they could be very bad ...

Either way, I tend to think that they are actually asking for a written permission from you, to avoid problems later.

 

[Nick]

I got the same email last month. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is a registrar, not a registry. I told them "no, they don't have my permission" and then I got this email:

Dear Sir，

Thanks for your confirmation. As soon as receiving the application of that company, we checked and found mydomain is your company's using name. We are concerned that your name might be affected negatively by their applications, this is why we informed you. Following brand name and domain names are applied by that company:
Brand name:
mydomain
Domain names:
mydomain.asia
mydomain.cn
mydomain.co.in
mydomain.com.cn
mydomain.com.hk
mydomain.com.tw
mydomain.hk
mydomain.in
mydomain.net.cn
mydomain.org.cn
mydomain.tw

You know that the domain names registration is open in the world, that company also has the right to apply for the available domain names. You only have the preferential rights to register them.
At present, we haven't passed their application, we need your opinion. If your company consider these names of importance to your company's business or interest, i suggest that your company register these names first so as to avoid confusion or speculation. Of course, each company has their own idea. If you don't think their application will affect your company in the future, then my suggestion is your company give up these names so that we can finish registering for them as per our duty. Please give me your company's decision as soon as possible in order to handle this issue better.


Best Regards

Cameron Wu
Tel0086) 0551-63491191
Fax0086) 0551-63491192
Address:334 Tunxi Road, Hefei, Anhui, China 23001
Website: www.ap-ltd.org

I ended up replying with "Do what you want. I'll just file a UDRP later." (even though I don't really care) Never heard back. The domains are unregistered to this day. It's just a scam to get you to register your domains with them in all those TLDs.

 

[SirDrago]

Do NOT answer or respond in ANY shape or form. They can bend any and all words to their favor. Although it seems that their intent is in good faith I assure you it's nothing less than a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Take photos of your whois info and email it to yourself.
They will contact you again shortly...

 

[Paully]

Nick's email showing it's not a one off thing makes things look a little clearer. Sounds to me like first steps in an attempt to get fees for "protecting" your domain. Probably not even Chinese

Did you guys check the email headers to see where the email really came from?

@Sigit Prasetyo - I am not sure that seeking permission from a non Chinese is a concept that a Chinese company would be familiar with

 

[Sigit Prasetyo]

@Paully yea ... that makes sense, too. Probably I am too kind

 

[Nick]

Did you guys check the email headers to see where the email really came from?

Camron Wu <[email protected]>

ap-ser.cn registry whois
ROID: 20150430s10001s75757366-cn
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID: p44283388
Registrant: 杨火香
Registrant Contact Email:

@china.com.cn
Sponsoring Registrar: 广东时代互联科技有限公司
Name Server: ns5010.01isp.com
Name Server: ns5011.01isp.net
Registration Time: 2015-04-30 09:51:02
Expiration Time: 2016-04-30 09:51:02
DNSSEC: unsigned

ap-ltd.org registry whois
Domain ID: D176476834-LROR
Creation Date: 2015-06-06T08:08:01Z
Updated Date: 2015-06-06T08:08:02Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2016-06-06T08:08:01Z
Sponsoring Registrar:Todaynic.com, Inc. (R1316-LROR)
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 697
WHOIS Server:
Referral URL:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited -- http://www.icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: serverTransferProhibited -- http://www.icann.org/epp#serverTransferProhibited
Registrant ID:TOD-44342550
Registrant Name:Yanghuoxiang
Registrant Organization:Yanghuoxiang
Registrant Street: FUZHOU
Registrant City:FUZHOU
Registrant State/Province:JX
Registrant Postal Code:330000
Registrant Country:CN
Registrant Phone:+86.105369908
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +86.105369908
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:

@china.com.cn
Admin ID:TOD-44342550
Admin Name:Yanghuoxiang
Admin Organization:Yanghuoxiang
Admin Street: FUZHOU
Admin City:FUZHOU
Admin State/Province:JX
Admin Postal Code:330000
Admin Country:CN
Admin Phone:+86.105369908
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +86.105369908
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email:

@china.com.cn
Tech ID:TOD-44342550
Tech Name:Yanghuoxiang
Tech Organization:Yanghuoxiang
Tech Street: FUZHOU
Tech City:FUZHOU
Tech State/Province:JX
Tech Postal Code:330000
Tech Country:CN
Tech Phone:+86.105369908
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +86.105369908
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email:

@china.com.cn
Name Server:NS7.01ISP.COM
Name Server:NS8.01ISP.NET

 

[Datalife]

@ Nick V

Your post makes a lot of sense. It might be a scheme to try to get me to register other versions of my domain with them. Although, the registrar who contacted me is not the same as yours, they are also from China....

Hmmm. Thanks guys for all your input. I am leaning on not responding to them.

 

[sbweb]

That sounds very familiar. I used to get emails like that. I do believe its a registry trying to get you to register different versions of your domain by scaring you. They make money as long as it is their extension that you are registering regardless of which registrar you use. Really a dishonest way to get people to register domains in their extension..

 

[Kate]

That's it. Scam + spam.
You can still report the registrars to the concerned registries if they care.
Name and shame.

 

[Hypersot]

Just received the same email... 100% scam (it was kinda obvious tbh)

 

[bonavee]

I have in the past received quite a few of such mails re: one of my domains (9 yrs old). I immediately smelt a rat! So, irrespective of what their message was, I initially simply replied that I OWN the domain.com and not represented by anyone or organization anywhere in the world and not willing to let go. When similar mails appeared to come in at frequent intervals, I checked whois and found out that the dotnet was owned by what appeared to be a large Chinese manufacturing company. Then sometime in 2014 when the mail came in again (re: the same domain name), this time sounding as if they were doing me a favour, I decided to test the water. I asked the dotnet owner if they wanted my dotcom. No response! Interestingly, the dotnet has now expired and NOT renewed. So, I would rather simply ignore such mails. Just make sure you SECURE your domain name to the best of your ability. My 2 cents though.

 

[DomainVP]

100% its just spam to try and get you to register other domains.

I have received a few of these in the past.

Have no worries.

 

[easyjim]

scam

received the same email about 1.5 years ago

 

[domainerfella]

Do not go to reply. As many others said, it is an attempt to get you register useless extensions by scaring you. I got this long back.