So, a client reached out to us after receiving an email recently. I changed the client’s actual domain to “yourdomain” for privacy reasons. After reading, the email, I advised my client to delete the email. There are many variations of this email, but the emails follow a similar pattern:
From: Mike Zhang <mike@chinanameregistry.com.cn>
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2023 5:30 AM
To: info@yourdomain.com
Subject: “yourdomain”
Dear CEO,
(It’s very urgent, please transfer this email to your CEO. If this email affects you, we are very sorry, please ignore this email. Thanks)
We are a Network Service Company which is the domain name registration center in China.
We received an application from Hua Tai Ltd on February 27, 2023. They want to register ” yourdomain ” as their Internet Keyword and “yourdomain .cn “、” yourdomain .com.cn ” 、” yourdomain .net.cn “、” yourdomain.org.cn ” domain names, they are in China domain names. But after checking it, we find ” yourdomain ” 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
*******************************************
Mike Zhang | Service Manager
China Name Registry (Head Office)
No. 300, Xuanhua Road, Changning District, Shanghai200050, China
Tel: +86-2161918696 | Fax: +86-2161918697 | Mob: +86-1582177 1823
Web: www(dot)chinanameregistry(dot)com
****************************************************
The email claims that someone is trying to acquire the Chinese (.cn) versions of your domain. It implies that this is bad for your actual domain or brand. The email author offers to help you block these efforts by helping you acquire the rights to those Chinese domains before they are lost forever. It sounds legitimate, but it is not. It is a scam!
My client was concerned that somehow their domain was at risk. I assured them that their brand was not at risk. I told my client to NOT REPLY and to DELETE THE EMAIL. The email makes it sound like the author is watching out for your best interests. They are NOT! It is a scam aimed at getting you to submit financial and personal data. This is just another form of phishing called the Chinese Domain Registration Scam. This is a serious security threat which could lead to identity theft, financial losses or unauthorized use of your personal information. If you receive an email like this, do not reply AND delete the email.
We are reporting this to help others learn to recognize threats and protect themselves from scams that have unfortunately become part of our lives.
