A little while ago I wrote an article on an email that was being distributed by some Asian Domain Name fraudsters. It invovled the fraudsters preying on unsuspecting victims, and attempted to get money from the victims by convincing them that their ‘brand’ or ‘company name’ was about to be “hijacked” by Asian companies using Asian domain names. That article I wrote and the research we did obviously became very useful for potential victims performing their own research. 

The article I refer to is located here:  http://tim.safitech.com/2008/07/asian-domain-name-fraud-warning/

The reason for a follow up article is that it would seem that the fraudsters have now moved on to the European (.eu) region! Little is known about the individuals behind these emails, though we do understand it to be a well networked group of people who are in fact from China or geographically close to China. They use real contact numbers (VoIP) and have real people follow with potential victims who respond to the original email.  We suspect that the people who follow up the original email are actually innocently involved and are most probably a hired telemarketing firm who believe the cause and reason for the call is genuine.  It is possible that the European version of this fraudulent campaign is a ‘copycat’ set up.

So, the latest email to surface is as follows:

Dear ***** Team,

Good day to you
We received a formal application from Netlon Company are applying to register ” *******” as their website and internet brand name in European, American and Asian area on Jun 18th 2009. During our auditing procedure we find out that the alleged Netlon Company has no trade mark nor patent even similar to that word. Hence we need you confirmation for two things,
First of all, whether this alleged Netlon Company is your business partner or distributor in business world.
Secondly, whether you are interested in registering these domains and internet keyword.
(.eu/.asia/.cn/.com.cn/.com etc)
This is a letter for confirmation. If we haven’t receive your reply. We will automatically confirm application from Netlon Company after this audit procedure.

Yours Faithfully,
Robin
Registration Commissioner
China Anti-Cybersquatting Organization
‘Tel: +00852 8135 9416
Web: www.mwwgroup.org
Confidentiality Statement:
The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not an intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution, or other action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this message in error please be advised of your obligation to immediately notify sender of the error in transmission, and to destroy all associated documentation.

It would be helpful to hear other similar stories or other versions of the above email. Any questions or comments you may have are welcomed and encouraged - please take the time to register and post your comment here.