Domain Name Scam Alleged

March 12, 2001

In July 2000, our office reported on this alleged attack on domain names and that consumers should be aware.

This article is a follow-up to that article because it has recently been reported that the wheels of the government are in motion and have issued a temporary injunction and asset freeze against this company, which is based out of Toronto and operates an office in Atlanta. This company, which is variously known as National Domain Name Registry, Electronic Domain Name Monitoring, and Corporate Domain Name Monitoring, has been accused of acting in bad faith and in violation of the FTC by issuing warnings to consumers stating that the consumers may lose business or have an interruption in business activities if they do not pay the fee and secure a domain name similar to the one they are using.

At this point it has not been reported what will happen to this company but it has been asked to stop doing business while the government continues to investigate it.

July 2000

Both clients and myself have become parties to a faxed mailing and wanted to advise anyone who may receive one of these notices that there are other remedies to pursue other than submitting to the company's requested fee.

The company sends a fax that notifies the consumer that the consumer's domain name (with the "net" extension) has been submitted for registration by a third party. The company further advises the consumer to submit the signed fax and a fee back to them or else that company reserves the right to assign the domain rights to the third party applicant. The consumer has a 24 hour window of opportunity to submit a response and payment to this company.

There are other options through the consumer's currently registered domain name that one can pursue in order to protect one's registration and one's pocketbook.